FLORENCE W. DIZIKES

As a young woman in the late 1930s, Florence W. Dizikes, who was then Florence Ethel Warneke, left her home in Oak Park, IL to study chemistry at Vassar College in upstate New York. It was a time when few women went to college and fewer still studied science. But Florence, who was born on July 31, 1918 to George Christian Warneke and Josephine Damka Warneke, fiercely valued education and her independence. She graduated with a master's in chemistry in 1941. "She was the first person who talked to me about the details of what college life would be like," recalled her nephew John Dizikes, who would later become a college professor. "She made it seem quite a natural thing to do." After 94 years, in which she married the love of her life, Jim L. Dizikes, had three children -- Louis, George, and Joan (Joanna) -- and celebrated the births of five grandchildren, Florence passed away on Saturday, November 17, 2012. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, older sister, Ruth W. Tinsley, and younger brother, George "Bud" C. Warneke Jr. Family and friends remembered Florence as a woman of great poise, grace, intellect and strength. An utterly charming person, who was always up for a nip of adventure, whether it was riding horses, fishing near her beloved Grand Tetons or an impromptu road trip. A voracious consumer of news and politics, Florence also relished listening to the old standards, playing cards (she was quite the shark), eating ice cream, drinking coffee and talking into the night. After attending both Rockford College, where she received a Bachelor's of Science, and then Vassar, Florence returned to the Chicago area. She taught briefly at Roycemore School in Evanston, but then, like so many in her generation, heeded the call to help in World War II efforts. The newspaper ad she found was seeking chemists to work in the federal government's dairy division laboratory in Chicago. She answered the ad and began work shortly after, testing the quality of powdered eggs used in military rations and aid to Europe. As it happened, the assistant director of the lab at the time was Jim L. Dizikes, who asked Florence to marry him several years later. The pair moved to Salt Lake City, where their children were born, before finally settling in Western Springs where Florence lived from 1957 until her death. Florence taught for years in Oak Park -- first at Ralph W. Emerson Junior High School and then at Horace Mann Elementary School. When news of her passing spread around an alumni chat forum this week, former students and colleagues recalled her as "a great teacher." "I loved Mrs. Dizikes," wrote one woman. "I am so sorry to hear the news. I'll never forget the day she became a grandma for the first time. We threw her a party complete with confetti from the paper punch. And she made us clean it up too. She was awesome." A former student from Emerson had also written Florence in August, some 40 years after graduating, to say she was one of the best teachers he had at the school. "I appreciate everything you did to make science interesting and vital," he wrote. In recent months and weeks, Florence was still devouring the news, following the twists and turns of the presidential campaign and debates and voting, as usual, earlier this month. A visitation will be held at Hallowell & James Funeral Home at 1025 West 55th Street, Countryside, IL 60525 on Friday, November 23 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The funeral service will be held at the same place on Saturday, November 24 at 10 a.m. with interment following at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park. For more information call (708) 352-6500. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the National Parkinson Foundation, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.