PHYLLIS BALK

Phyllis Balk, retired nurse and active volunteer in Illinois and New York, died peacefully at age 81 on May 4, 2011 after an extended illness. She was born Phyllis Lorraine Munter in Moline, IL on December 27, 1929 to Fritz and Alma (Eldean) Munter, both of Swedish heritage. Mrs. Balk graduated from Moline High School in 1948 and received her RN from Presbyterian-St. Luke's School of Nursing in Chicago in 1951. Upon graduation she served as an occupational health nurse for Deere & Company in Moline. After marriage to journalist Alfred Balk on June 7, 1952, she returned to Chicago, where she served as clinic head nurse and emergency room head nurse at Presbyterian-St. Luke's. During their 58-year marriage, the couple lived in Chicago, IL, Evanston, IL, New York, NY, Katonah, NY, Syracuse, NY, and Huntley, IL. Mrs. Balk was known in all these communities for her volunteer work and quiet activism, as well as her excellent cooking and extraordinary kindness. In Chicago, she volunteered at Beacon House on Chicago's South Side and in Evanston and New York she served on the PTA of various schools and as PTA President at Hunter College High School during a critical time in the public school's life, when it was threatened with closure due to lack of funds. She led the high school community in a successful march on New York's City Hall which was covered by Geraldo Rivera on local television news. She was also active in Girl Scouts and helping foreign immigrants settle in the U.S. In 1975, she joined Manufacturer's Hanover bank (now part of Chase) as an occupational health nurse, retiring in 1991, when her husband joined the faculty of Syracuse University's Newhouse School. She resumed long-deferred study towards a Bachelor's Degree, and in 1997, at age 67, became the oldest alumna in nursing of the State University of New York's Upstate Medical University. The school used a photo of Mrs. Balk in cap and gown with her young granddaughter on the cover of its brochures for several years. In Huntley, IL, where she and her husband moved in 1999, she served as a Deacon of the First Congregational Church, head of Friends of the Library Book Corner, and as a volunteer with the Hospice of Northeastern Illinois and other health organizations. The couple had a happy partnership until his death on Thanksgiving Day in 2010. Mrs. Balk served as an important support throughout her husband's distinguished career, as indicated in Balk's scholarly papers in the collections of the Newberry Library in Chicago and Syracuse University. She is survived by two daughters, Laraine Balk Hope of Rockville, MD and Diane Balk Palguta of Indianapolis, IN; two grandchildren, Anna and Andrew Palguta; and first cousins Herb, Roger, and Judy Eldean of Macatawa, MI. A Memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 20, at the First Congregational Church of Huntley, 11628 E. Main St., Huntley, IL. Contributions can be sent to the Huntley Area Public Library Friends Foundation, 11000 Ruth Road, Huntley, IL 60142, the First Congregational Church of Huntley, Hospice and Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois, 405 Lake Zurich Road, Barrington, IL 60010 or your local hospice organization. For further information, please contact DeFiore-Jorgensen Funeral Home at 847-515-8772 or www.defiorejorgensen.com.