Alice Joan Michalowski

Alice Joan Michalowski, 93, of Lake Holiday, passed away on October 13 after a courageous battle with a brief illness.

Alice was born on August 28, 1932 to Frances and Joseph Skorusa in Chicago, IL. After graduating from Saint Scholastica in 1950, Alice went on to marry Conrad Martin Michalowski in May,1954 after meeting him on a double date - with someone else. They went on to have five children, Stephen, Jeffery, David, Cheryl and Julie, raising them at their home in Park Ridge, and moving into their dream retirement home on Lake Holiday in 1993.

An animal lover, Alice welcomed stray cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, birds, fish and turtles into the house in Park Ridge. A favorite family story is how she brought a family cat back to life by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after she was electrocuted.

Alice was a true trail blazer. Exemplifying her lifelong conviction that no individual with disabilities should be considered less than others, she instilled in her two deaf children an unwavering determination to succeed in a hearing world. From 1960 to the 1970s, she actively contributed to the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, where she and her late husband, Conrad, engaged with a variety of professionals in the deaf education sector, including audiologists and speech therapists. Together with other parents, she played a crucial role in founding the Northwest Suburban Group for Special Education, collaborating with educators to organize fundraising efforts for essential equipment needed by deaf children in schools.

Alice’s passion for ensuring that deaf people could communicate effectively by lipreading and speaking culminated in her returning to school while raising her children. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mundelein College in 1974 and went on to earn her Master’s degree in Speech Pathology from Marquette University in 1975. Alice then founded United Speech and Audiology Consultants, specializing in helping stroke patients regain their power of speech, including many patients over her years of service at Valley West Hospital in Sandwich. She also developed a ground-breaking accent reduction program that enabled the India based customer service agents of a large consumer organization become better understood by callers.

Alice played an essential role in supporting her children in various sports, such as basketball, swimming, skiing, hockey, and figure skating. Among these, figure skating is where she truly shone as a dedicated mom, tirelessly driving to and from ice rinks each day, spending summers away with her kids at skating camp, designing and creating skating costumes, and lugging around a hefty camcorder to capture every moment during competitions.

Alice was active in the Park Ridge and Lake Holiday communities. She held leadership positions at the Junior League and Women’s Entrepreneur Clubs in Park Ridge and later served several terms as President of the Lake Holiday Ladies Club and Treasurer of the Seeds and Weeds Gardening Club. She submitted numerous entries (and won several ribbons) each year to the Sandwich Fair, ranging from quilting to embroidery to flower arrangements.

She enjoyed tending to her numerous flower beds in Lake Holiday, cultivating many specimen plants that she would sell at the Garden Club annual plant sale, making Conrad follow her around with a shovel to dig up and pot the plants.

Alice is survived by a daughter Julie (James) Servilla of Fairfield, CT; two sons, Stephen (Cheryl Ann) Michalowski of Campton Hills, IL, and David (Sheryl Nan) Michalowski of Baltimore, MD; five grandchildren, Stephen Jr. (Janelle), Travis (Dani), Alexandra (Ari Matityahu), Shayna and Aaron (Nicole); four great grandchildren, Mason, Ava, Sophia, and Noah; and her beloved kitty GiGi. She was preceded in death by her husband Conrad, son Jeffery, and daughter Cheryl.

Alice lived quietly but had an enormous impact on the lives of those around her. Her friends and family will greatly miss her and her feistiness, as evidenced by her ability to pass a driving test at 93 and live independently in her home until the end of her life.

A visitation is planned for Sunday, October 26th 2:00pm until 6:00pm with a prayer service at 5:30 at Turner-Eighner Funeral Home, Somonauk, IL. A funeral mass will be held Monday, October 27th, 10:30am at St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Somonauk, IL, with Father Joseph Naill officiating. Burial will follow in St. John Catholic Cemetery Somonauk, IL. For more information or to sign the online guestbook go to www.eighnerfuneralhomes.com

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, please send donations to The Alexander Graham Association for the Deaf (https://agbell.org) or to the Lake Holiday Ladies Club (mail to 283 Easy St, Somonauk, IL 60552). Arrangements were entrusted to Turner-Eighner Funeral Home 13160 W. RT 34 Box 404 Somonauk, IL 60552 (815) 498-2363