GAIL WISCH WENK

Gail (Wisch) Wenk, 90, of Highland Park, IL and Lake Bluff, IL, passed away on January 28, 2023 after a valiant fight with multiple health issues. The wonderfully good-natured wife of 62 years of the late Chuck Wenk, bravely and selflessly fought off a lifetime of medical challenges, without the slightest complaint.

Gail was preceded in death by her husband Chuck Wenk, and is survived by her two children, Wendy Wenk Deeter (Rich) and Wes Wenk (Cindy). Gail was grandmother to Tucker Deeter, Casey Deeter, Chris Deeter, Sam Wenk (Doris) and Lucy Wenk Knutson (Ryan). Gail loved spending time with her 3 great grandchildren, Emily Wenk, Olivia Wenk, and Wesley Knutson as they were her absolute pride and joy.

The daughter of Myron E. Wisch and Dorothy Wisch, and sister to the late Lois (Wisch) Pierce, and Harriet (Wisch) Gordon, Gail grew up in Chicago and skipped two years of school, due to her academic talents that emerged very early. She attended the University of Illinois, graduating just before her 19th birthday. At U of I, she first met Chuck Wenk, when she came in to the "Daily Illini" news office, to complain about one of his editorials. That 1949 complaint may have been her last one ever.

After Gail and Chuck were married in 1951, they moved to Highland Park, where they raised their two children, Wes and Wendy. In the 1960s, Gail first worked as a real estate salesperson for Degrazia Realty. But before long, Chuck's surprising, and inexplicable hobby, (opening up a Chinese restaurant called 'Charlie Wenk's Teahouse'), soon pressed Gail into becoming the hostess at the restaurant. Nothing could stop her determination to help at "Charlie Wenk's", including dealing with a drunken diner who, on his way out, picked up a portable cash register and threw it right at her! She ducked out of the way, and calmly called the police with the phone that was under the front desk.

By 1963, the Chinese restaurant "hobby" was spinning out of control, and they sold it to Wally Chinn and his family. By then, Chuck had caught the flying bug, and when he obtained his private pilot's license, Gail immediately jumped in and did the same!

With Gail, flying was more of a social experience, where she quickly joined the international lady flyer's group "The 99s", inspired by Amelia Earhart. Gail did do a lot of flying, and took part in ladies' aviation races over the years, but the real attraction for her was the many lifelong friends she made in the 99s, with whom she planned several local and national "fly-ins."

Gail never complained about Chuck referring to her as "The Warden" in his 50-year newspaper column. While Gail was never actually a career caregiver, she took it upon herself in later years to care for, shop for, and regularly visit more than 20 aging relatives and flying friends, and did so quietly and automatically, without hesitation. Her love for her family, for football, and for the Cubs, helped her stay busy even in the last few years. But her GREATEST joy those last 8 years was in spending time with her 3 great grand-children.

If encyclopedias were still around, Gail's picture would have to appear under the definition of "a good sport." She was the girl all parents wanted their son to marry someday...beautiful, generous, completely devoid of an ego, blessed with a wonderfully playful sense of humor, and totally reliable for anything her family or friends could ever ask for.