Winifred Hazucha

Winifred Ardith Ruth Hazucha,101, passed away on April 13, 2025, with her eldest daughter Julie by her side. Variously known as "Win" and "Winnie" by her family and friends, she was born in Chicago on June 20, 1923, to Walter E. and Winifred E. (Thompson) Hassmann. She was the second of three children and, along with her older sister Eleanor, a doting sibling to Wally, her brother twelve years her junior who died of cancer at the age of 16.
Winifred attended von Steuben High School and graduated at 16, having skipped two half grades in elementary school, something she was always very proud of. After briefly attending North Park College in Chicago, Win transferred to Northwestern University, where she continued her precocious academic career, graduating cum laude in 1944 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the age of 20. While taking graduate courses at Northwestern, she met Rudolph (Rudy) Hazucha, and on August 27, 1948, they were married in the chapel on the campus of Northwestern University. They would remain married for 69 and a half years, until Rudy's death in 2018.
At the time of her marriage Win was teaching third grade while Rudy was finishing school at NU. In 1953, they bought their first home in Niles and became an active part of the community. Win was a charter member of the Women's Club of Niles, an organizing member of its chorus, and one of the people who helped establish the Niles Park District.
Now teaching 4th grade, one day Win gave an assignment to her class and suggested that her students do research by going to the library to look up their topics. "Library?" they said. "We don't have a library!" So Win went back to the Women's club and asked for their help. This was the beginning of what today is the Niles-Maine District Library. Win was instrumental in founding the library, and Rudy was the first president of the library board. Just before the Hazuchas moved to Arlington Heights, the library moved into its first home at the corner of Waukegan and Oakton in a vacant Ben Franklin store.
In the meantime, Win gave birth to her first child, Julie, in 1955, and she quit teaching to raise a family. Three more children followed in quick succession over the next six years: John, Andy, and Karen. She went back to substitute teaching when Karen began kindergarten, and in 1973 she returned to teaching full-time as a special education instructor for students with learning disabilities. She retired in 1985 at the age of 63, having touched several generations of young students' lives with her unwavering patience, encouragement, and empathy.
Win's adventurous second life began in her retirement years. She and Rudy began taking classes for retirees and traveling both domestically and abroad on Elderhostel tours, traversing the globe to Alaska, Hawaii, Belgium, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. When they moved from Arlington Heights to Rockford in 2003, they regularly enrolled in classes for seniors at Rock Valley College, continuing their studies in such subjects as history, literature, and music. While they lived in Rockford during their octogenarian years their daughter Karen thankfully lived just a few blocks away; she attended to them when they needed a helping hand.
In 2009, Win and Rudy moved in with Julie and her husband Mark to a house in Sleepy Hollow, where they ensconced themselves in a large, private wing on the ground floor. Win lived a quiet life there with Rudy, receiving many visits from old friends and going for walks at the local mall. Intellectually curious to the very end, Win listened to books on tape every day even after her sight completely failed her due to macular degeneration, and she worked the daily crossword puzzles in the Tribune by listening to clues spoken aloud by her family. A lover of words, an avid reader, a skillful grammarian-these are the traits that defined her mind, while her deep care for the friends and family she loved defined her heart.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin, 39W830 Highland Ave., Elgin, 60124 on Sunday, July 6 at 4:00 PM. Donations in honor of Winifred may be given to the Macular Degeneration Association, the American Macular Degeneration Foundation, the Red Cross, and The Salvation Army.