Sherleen Joan Kummer

Sherleen Joan Kummer (née Baggarly)

November 7, 1936 – August 2, 2025

Sherleen Joan Kummer (nee Baggarly), beloved Mother, Gran Gran, caretaker, and friend passed away on August 2, 2025, at the age of 88 after a brief stay in hospice.

Sherleen was born on November 7, 1936, at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., and was the oldest child of Eleanor L. (nee Fedler) and Grafton Baxter Baggarly. Even before she arrived, she was celebrated-her mother had made a playful bet with a coworker: if the baby was a girl, a dollhouse would be built from scratch. Sherleen was born, and that dollhouse stands today, a cherished symbol of her beginnings.

Throughout her life she was her younger brother's real life guardian angel, always looking out for, Bradley Hooper Baggarly. He was known to give her a run for her money from shooting apples off a friend's head to other unnamed shenanigans. Once Brad married, the torch was officially transferred to his wife the lovely and patient wife Harriet Ann (Bunny) Hawbaker.

Sherleen spent her formative years in Catholic schools, first attending St Nicolas Grammer school and then Marywood School for Girls in Evanston Illinois. There she made friends that lasted a lifetime. Her memories of Marywood were vivid and joyful-once, while reminiscing with a classmate, both in their 80's at the time, the two women lit up with laughter, momentarily transported back to their teenage years. Magic!

Her faith remained a cornerstone of her life, teaching her first granddaughter, Katie Donnellan, to memorize and recite the Hail Mary, she was 18 months old! Her four children were all required to go to Catechism (CCD) classes through high school, much to their chagrin (but appreciated wholly today). She was an active member of the Saint Joseph's Church Guild and Libertyville Women's Club to help live out her faith. And when she was unable to physically go to church, she always listened to the mass with her daughter Kate Sordelet every Sunday on EWTN. She had lost her eyesight by then and her daughter Kate, filled in all the visuals by describing who was sitting in the pews with full descriptions of elegant outfits and expressions.

Determined to continue her education, after having four children under the age of 10, she worked on a plan. First, she got her driver's license and then along with great coordination began taking classes at Santa Anna College in Santa Anna California. She proudly received her AA degree in 1967. There would be a pause to get her bachelor's degree due to 3 state to state moves over the next 5 years. Once again, Sherleen the consummate planner, found that Mundelein college had a weekend program. With her careful planning she graduated in 1976 Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Community Relations, the same year her oldest, Daniel William Kummer Jr, graduated from High School.

Once she completed college, she set her sights on getting her real estate degree and became a real estate broker at Century 21 in Libertyville Illinois. She truly had a gift of making houses feel like homes.

The thing she was most proud of was her family and it showed in everything she did. From playing hours of Chinese Checkers if you were home sick, teaching her girls to embroider and paint pumpkins at Halloween, attending endless wrestling matches and tracks meets at Libertyville HS where her children attended, providing sage advice at every age and stage and being her kids biggest cheerleader. Even in midlife her kids needed to call and tell her they were safely home after a trip to her house (Mama Bear had to be coined for her).

One her favorite roles was that of being Gran Gran to her 7 grandchildren. You could find her hosting a tea party on her grandmothers fine China with her granddaughters around her. This typically consisted of tea and black licorice Scottie dogs (she loved black licorice!). She attended every single dance recital even when wheelchair bound, and these went from age 3 to age 17! When babysitting her oldest grandchild Emilia Panek, she taught her how to hold her newborn brother, "just support his head and press his ear to your heart!" She kept her grandsons rich with every squirt gun, rubber band gun or nerf gun, when their parents may or may not have expressly stated no guns. Even with the grandkids, her planning and forethought sometimes spelled trouble. When her grandson, Jack Donnellan, was just 10 years old, he came alarmed to his mom, is something wrong with Gran Gran? No why? Little legs zoomed upstairs in her Libertyville home and back down clutching her "When I die book"! That booked contained everything she wanted when she passed. I assured Jack that Gran Gran is fine – just a planner. She lived 18 years following that find and we are using it as our guide today! But her crowning glory was her ability to curate Christmas Eve, a mix between FAO Swartz and the Marshall Field Window Displays. From mouthwatering food, to gifts, to 7 kids piled on her ottoman year after year for the holiday picture. It was always memorable…like the time she made mashed potatoes and mistakenly used eggnog vs milk!

She will be missed by all who knew her and was preceded in death by her parents, Grafton Baxter Baggarly, and Elenor L Baggarly, and her brother Bradley Hooper Baggarly. She is survived by her four children, Daniel William Kummer Jr (Libertyville), Stephen Michael Kummer (Chicago), Victoria Marguerite Donnellan (Kevin) of Charlotte NC and Kathryn Elizabeth (Kate) Sordelet (Daniel) of Peoria Illinois. Her seven loving grandchildren, Katie Donnellan (Grayslake), Jack Donnellan (Milwaukee Wisconsin), Bridget Donnellan (Matt Snyder) of Lexington KY, MaryGrace Donnellan (Charlotte, NC), Emilia Panek (Matt) of Chicago, Krystian (Elena) Wadolowski of Raleigh, NC and Dan Kummer (Muncie, IN).

A visitation will be held at McMurrough Funeral Chapel, 101 Park Place, Libertyville, IL 60048, from 4:00 to 7:00 PM on August 22, 2025. A Funeral Mass will follow at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 121 East Maple Ave, Libertyville, IL 60048, at 10:00 AM August 23,2025 with interment at Ascension Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum, Libertyville, IL.

Sherleen's legacy of love, faith, and fierce devotion to her family will live on in the hearts of all who knew her. We could not end this celebration of our mom, Sherleen without her iconic sign off – Cheers!