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Lynn Morton Pensinger, 81

Lynn Morton Pensinger, 81, of Woodstock, Ill., died peacefully on Sept. 1, 2019, at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
A visitation will be held on Friday, Sept. 13, from 4-7 p.m. at Davenport Family Funeral Home, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave. (Route 176), Crystal Lake, and a memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 10 a.m. at First Congregational Church, 461 Pierson St., Crystal Lake.
She is survived by her husband, Ray; two children, Matthew (Wendy Day) of Chicago and Ashley (David Sok) of Chicago; four grandchildren, Mia Pensinger-Sok (10), Henry Pensinger (9), Alex Pensinger (9) and Leo Pensinger-Sok (7); and her sister, Mary Roeder, of Lexington, Mass.
Lynn was born on July 15, 1938, in Milwaukee, Wis., as the younger of two children to Elizabeth and Frederick Morton. The family later moved to Madison, Wis., where she graduated from West High School.
Lynn initially attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., and later transferred to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she graduated with a degree in early childhood education. After graduation, she moved to Connecticut and then to Boston, where she taught kindergarten.
Lynn met Dr. Ray Pensinger while living in Boston, and they were married on Dec. 30, 1967. They moved together to Chicago, where Ray was starting his career as a physician and ultimately settled in Woodstock when Ray joined a medical practice here. After taking several years off from teaching in order to raise her children, Lynn returned to the classroom, where she taught for many years at Kids Unlimited Preschool in Woodstock.
Among Lynn’s many passions were the arts, children, travel, gardening and being a grandmother. She was a long-time supporter of the Woodstock Opera House and volunteered her time extensively in the Woodstock Fine Arts Association to help renovate of the Opera House and support music and theater programs in the local community.
In addition, her love of gardening manifested itself through her long membership in the Bull Valley Garden Club and in partnering with her friend, Nancy Jung, to start a Bull Valley beautification effort that led to the planting of thousands of daffodils along many Bull Valley roads and having Fleming Road named a McHenry County Scenic Drive in 2011. The fruits of her multi-year efforts can be witnessed each spring with the explosion of daffodils all across Bull Valley.
Lynn also had a life-long love of travel and a curiosity to explore sites and experience cultures across the world. She and Ray traveled together to Europe many times and also reached Africa, Asia and Australia across their many adventures. In recent years, their trips included visits to see her daughter Ashley and family, who lived abroad in both France and Cambodia before returning to Chicago last year.
Another of Lynn’s passions was her love of Northern Michigan and her connection to the Bay View Association in Petoskey, where she and Ray have owned a cottage for over 20 years. Lynn greatly enjoyed spending the summer months in Bay View, where she actively participated in the Association’s arts and adult education programs. At Bay View, she was also an enthusiastic member of the memorial garden committee and croquet club, where she loved to don an all-white outfit for an afternoon roll.
In recent years, Lynn had faced the significant challenge of living with dementia. While it was difficult to face the long-term prognosis of her condition, Lynn never lost the positive spirit and zest for life that so many of her family and friends knew to be her way. And, she was blessed to have many dear friends whose love, gentle kindness and unwavering support meant so much to Lynn and her family.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Lynn’s memory to the First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake, fcc-cl.org/donate, or to the Performing Arts program at the Bay View Association mybayview.org/page.aspx?pid=298.
Arrangements were entrusted to Davenport Family Funeral Home and Crematory, Crystal Lake. For information, please call the funeral home at 815-459-3411 or visit davenportfamily.com, where friends may leave an online condolence message for the family.

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