Nancy J. Placko

After a long lifetime of care, happiness and occasional heartbreak, our Mom, Nancy J. Placko, passed away on November 18, 2025, at the age of 88. Mom was plagued with health issues in the final years of her life, but we were always amazed by her resilience and the fact that she worried more about others than herself.

Nancy Jane Anderson was born on October 23, 1937, and lived the formative years of her life, appropriately enough, in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. Her family had deep roots in Chicago's Swedish community and were among the founding members of Ebenezer Lutheran Church. That's where, in 1960, she married Duane Placko, whom she met while they were students at Wright Junior College. In the next eleven years they had four children, Dane, Dawn, Rich and Scott.

Our parents lived for a short time in Rogers Park, then moved to Arlington Heights. In 1970 they bought a home in Palatine, where Mom lived for 55 years and where she passed away peacefully, as she wished.

Mom had a sometimes difficult childhood. Her mother, Florence H. Hanson, died when Mom was just eight. Her father, Robert L. Anderson, died when she was a teenager. We always believed those early tragedies ingrained a sense of worry in her that persisted throughout her life.

Yet she also enjoyed life as a busy mother raising four rambunctious kids. We have so many warm memories of our summer vacations in northern Wisconsin, long bike rides, trips to the pool, holiday traditions and treasured pets. Mom gave us the gift of independence, allowing us to play and explore and even sometimes get into a bit of trouble. She also encouraged our lifelong reading habits with weekly trips to the library.

Mom was also a lifelong Cubs fan who began going to Wrigley Field on the streetcar in the 1940s, and rarely missed a game on television even as she was dealing with one health crisis after another.

After Dad died in 2017, Mom continued to enjoy the comfort of her large family. Survivors include Dane, Dawn Wurtz (Don), Rich (Cindy) and Scott (Paola) and her nine grandchildren; Adam, Evan, Laura, Megan, Josh, Grace, Haley, Addison and Camille.

Never wanting to be made a fuss over, she asked not to have a formal funeral service. We will honor her memory with a Celebration of Life in the coming months, and she will be in our hearts forever.