Wanda E. Grever

Visitation for Wanda Eleanor Grever, 97, of Lake Zurich, will be held on Saturday, August 30, 2025, from 10:00 AM until the time of the Funeral Service at 11:30 AM at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 415 S. Buesching Road, Lake Zurich. The Interment will follow at Evergreen Cemetery, Barrington. A luncheon will be after the burial.

With great sadness, we announce the passing of Wanda Eleanor Grever. Wanda was born in Chicago on February 25, 1928. She was the only child of Julianna and Walter Olszewski. Wanda moved to Lake Zurich in 1944, and graduated from Ela Township High School in 1945. In 1947, she married Leroy Walter Grever, who was one of twelve children. Wanda quickly found in her in-laws the siblings she never had. They became lifelong friends and were known to get into a little trouble every now and again. With a little prompting (and maybe a cocktail), Wanda loved telling stories about the hijinks of her youth.

Wanda and her husband started their family in one of the first homes on Main Street in Lake Zurich, where she lived until the age of 90. In addition to being a loving mother to her children LeRoy, Sheryl, and Deborah, Wanda worked for the Village of Lake Zurich for 25 years and was elected Village Clerk and served in that role for 20 years. She greeted everyone with her beautiful smile, incredible kindness, and political savvy.

Wanda was kind, funny, feisty, stubborn, and full of nothing but unconditional love for her family and friends. She adored her family above all else, although her love for angels was a close second. Her outfit wasn't complete until she added one of her many angel pins. She never met a stranger and made good friends at every stage of life. She would tell the hard truths but was always from a place of love. Wanda was incredibly resilient and handled all of life's challenges with determination and strength.

She celebrated family birthdays with an early morning phone call rendition of happy birthday. Everyone was a "dolly," "honey," or "sweetie" to Wanda. She had many hobbies including ceramics, knitting, and stained glass. However, she prized her perennial gardens above all. She had a competitive side and enjoyed playing dominos and bunco. There wasn't a puzzle Wanda couldn't complete. She asked her great-grandchildren to teach her the Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza game and then beat them regularly and gleefully, She frequently called family to tell them to turn on a certain channel to watch a "television program" she knew they would like. She loved dogs and they loved her-possibly because she would always sneak those bites from the table because they "deserved a little treat."

The world is a dimmer, less joyful place without Wanda to light the way.

Wanda is survived by her daughters, Sheryl Grever, and Deborah (Grever) Dettlaff; her grandchildren, Dawn (Dettlaff) Wilson, Dana (Dettlaff) DeMars, Devin (Dettlaff) Fochler; and her great grandchildren, Dylan Wilson, Julia Wilson, Maddie DeMars, Jack DeMars and Owen Fochler.