Irene Ann Tomaskovic

Irene Ann Tomaskovic
October 12, 1929 - October 30, 2024
Irene is still the beloved mother of Janet, Eric (Lois) and John Tomaskovic, loved wife of 69 years of the late Joseph Tomaskovic Jr., dear sister of Evelyn Christensen and godmother, loving aunt and good friend to many. She was loved by all who met her, including caregivers and neighbors, and had an amazing gift for making friends instantly. When she became involved with various charities and projects she wholeheartedly threw herself into making them successful ventures.
The elder daughter of Anna and George Antol, Slovak immigrants to Chicago, Irene started out strong, riding the streetcar downtown to her part time office job after school at the age of 13. She graduated fourth in a class of 1,000 from Austin High School in Chicago, receiving a scholarship and attending DePaul Business College. Working full time as a bookkeeper, she attended a dance at Stefanik Hall in the Pilsen neighborhood, where she met a handsome Slovak American young man. She married Joseph Tomaskovic Jr. in 1950 and kept the books for his family's construction business. Joe Sr. adored his beautiful bookkeeping daughter-in-law.
Irene best loved her career of raising her three children. She would have done anything for us and did! When we were grown, she enjoyed 22 years of employment for Hinsdale Hospital, working for physicians and department heads.
One Sunday morning In 1999 at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Naperville, Irene learned of a mission trip to help build a Lutheran church in Nitra, Slovakia. She and Joe would make five annual trips to Slovakia, home of their parents, with family members and church mission members to aid in the construction and funding of that church and also of a new Lutheran school, the Center for Christian Education (CCE) consisting of grammar, high school and Bible college in Martin, SK. With the mission group she also made trips to local orphanages, bringing suitcases full of clothing and toys, spending time with and cheering the children with visits. One trip to a women's and children's shelter consisted of hours of landscaping a rough back yard play area and making the shelter safe for its inhabitants.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia began in February 2022 and shortly thereafter Irene suggested to her pastor that a fund be initiated to help Ukrainian refugees, some of whom were being given asylum by Slovakia. The fund successfully raised enough money to begin bringing Ukrainian families to the CCE in Martin, where students and bilingual teachers would be housed and educated.
In addition, Irene was a generous supporter of various charities; she regularly gave to Disabled American Veterans, Samaritan's Purse, Boy's Town USA, World Central Kitchen and others.
An enthusiastic fraternalist, Irene was president of Chicago Assembly 586 of the National Slovak Society of America (NSS,) making many national convention trips with husband Joe. She enjoyed planning meetings and activities and was looking forward to their annual Christmas party this year.
One of her favorite charitable pursuits was to encourage fellow members of her various groups to collect and donate items for Operation Support Our Troops America to ship to members of our military serving overseas. Her enterprise began after hearing a story about a friend's Marine grandson serving in Afghanistan who wrote home asking his grandparents to send cotton socks as his company often went uncomfortably for a week without the ability to shower or even change socks. Irene then made it her mission to collect boot socks, shampoo, snacks and other items for shipment to servicemen and women. NSS graciously doubled monetary gifts through their matching funds to cover the cost of shipping the items. Through its PVR scholarship fund, the 125+ year fraternal organization had also granted college scholarships over the decades to her three children, nieces, nephews and their own children, whose NSS memberships Irene and Joe had purchased as new baby gifts.
Another favorite organization was the Slovak American Charitable Association, founded over 100 years ago to aid new Slovak immigrants to the US. Irene was a director of SACA, which had built and administered a successful assisted living and skilled nursing facility in Zion, IL.
Irene had worked for many years as an election judge; she took civic duty earnestly and right up until the day of her passing, spoke up to her new acquaintances about the importance of exercising their right to vote. She had voted absentee and was very much looking forward to the November election results.
Above all else, Irene's chief occupation in her life and her joy derived from raising and helping her children, visiting with extended family and her dear friends. She looked forward to holidays and birthdays and loved choosing and giving gifts. Everyone who knew her learned from her and loved her very much. She made us feel as special as she actually was and left us with a desire to be regarded as generous and good a person as as she was.
A memorial service for our dear mom will be held at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 815 S. Washington St., Naperville, IL, on Saturday, November 30, gathering at 11:00 a.m., service at noon.
In lieu of flowers or plants our mother would have appreciated a donation to any of the following:
OSLC Mission Slovakia (f/b/o CCE) 815 S. Washington St., Naperville, IL 60540 or: oursaviours.com/missions/slovakia-ministry
Operation Support Our Troops America website: osotamerica.org Click Donate
NSS Life PVR Scholarship, 1301 Ashwood Drive, Canonsburg PA, 15317 (please specify PVR scholarship in memo)
Irene would have loved any of the charitable organizations mentioned above to receive a gift. Thank you from her family.