Rozynek, Colette

Colette Rozynek, Long-time Galesburg Resident, Dies at 90

Born in Chicago on New Year’s Eve in 1923, Colette Marie McCarthy grew up loving the Windy City. She took piano lessons in the Loop, and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Northwestern. There, she met another Chicago native, the affable Dick Rozynek, a war veteran, violin player, and would-be entrepreneurial businessman. They married in the city on June 21, 1945. Four children followed, all of them loved by both sets of grandparents, who lived nearby.

So it was a surprise to Colette, when Dick in 1960 proposed they move to Galesburg, Ill., where he had found a sales position and later would begin his own real estate company. But as people who knew Colette saw, she made friends easily and settled quickly into her new life. She worked some years at the Galesburg Register Mail and later did the advertising and bookkeeping for Dick Rozynek and Associates Real Estate. Like most women of her generation, she also saw to the children and managed the household. She counted among her many friends those who loved playing bridge and those doing charitable work. She volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital and was active in her church community. Among her special Galesburg friends in later years were Larry and Doris Chadwick, who visited with her almost daily after Dick died in 1993. The family is especially grateful to them for their care after she received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in 2004 until she moved to an assisted living facility near her daughter in 2007. She died early Friday morning, August 8, 2014.

Colette is survived by her four children and four grandchildren, including daughter Nancy Lindberg of St. Paul, Minn. and her son Andrew; Tom Rozynek (and wife Susan) of Ijamsville, Md.; Gary Rozynek (and wife Cathy) of Westport, Conn. and his daughters Lindsay, Madison, and Gillian; and Kevin Rozynek (and wife Brenda) of San Diego, Calif. Colette’s brother Jack McCarthy (and wife Virginia) of Northbrook, Ill., also survives.

The family will receive visitors 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 13, at Hinchliff-Pearson-West Galesburg Chapel. A funeral mass will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday, August 14, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Father William Miller will officiate. Burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery, Galesburg. Gifts in Colette’s memory may be offered to Corpus Christi. Online condolences may be made at www.h-p-w.com.

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