Gertrude “Trudy” Zakowski (nee Quigley), of Bloomingdale, formerly of Elmhurst, passed away in hospice care at Bella Terra of Lombard on the evening of March 26, 2023. She was 83.
Trudy grew up in Chicago before her family’s move to Elmhurst in 1955, although she traveled back to Chicago to graduate from high school. Later, she managed a doctor’s office in the former Bates & Bates building in downtown Elmhurst, while also helping her working widowed mother raise her two youngest siblings. She last worked as a Southwest Airlines reservationist at the Midway Airport call center.
She married and divorced Tom Anderson and Richard “Dick” Zakowski, without any children.
Trudy enjoyed competing in her women’s golf leagues, reading novels and solving New York Times crossword puzzles. She was an avid fan of the Chicago Bears football team and Chicago Blackhawks hockey team. She enjoyed vacationing with family whether in the Wisconsin Dells at an uncle’s motor lodge or on exotic Caribbean isles.
Trudy was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Florence (nee Carzoli,) and four of her six siblings, Barbara (Kestler), Edward, Thomas and Patricia (Esposito).
She is survived by her two youngest siblings, Janet James of Algonquin and John Quigley of Villa Park; as well as cousins, godchildren, nieces, nephews and their children and close friends.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in Trudy’s honor to the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org.
A Memorial Visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a Prayer Service beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5, at Elmhurst Community Funeral Home – The Ahlgrim Chapel, 567 S. Spring Rd. Elmhurst, IL 60126. Interment at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery.
Arrangements in care of Elmhurst Community Funeral Home – The Ahlgrim Chapel. For info, (630) 834-3515 or www.ElmhurstFH.com.
