Winifred Julia Micks, nee Whalen, age 96, was born in Towanda, Kansas, to Vona K., nee Vaughan and William Patrick Whalen. Winifred was raised on a farm west of Anamosa, Iowa; attended Chillicothe Business College in Missouri from 1942-1943; worked for Montgomery Ward in Chicago and the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in La Grange, where she met Donald William Micks and married him on Sept. 14, 1946 at St. Xavier Rectory in La Grange. During the WWII, she volunteered as a nurse’s aide at Community Memorial General Hospital in La Grange. She and her husband were longtime residents of Elmhurst and were loyal members of Visitation Parish. She was a beloved figure known as “Miss Winnie” to generations of students at Jefferson Elementary School in Elmhurst, where she worked as an aide from 1978 to 2015. She is predeceased by her husband and three brothers: John Michael Whalen (Jean), Michael John Whalen (Mary Flo), and Jerry Francis Whalen (Ruth). She is survived by her sister Kathryn V. Whalen Green (Chris); by her children: Maureen V. Miller (Rodney), Kathleen Anne Micks, Theresa J. Slowik (Kenneth), Wiley Stephen Micks, and Alyce Julia Vaughn; her grandchildren, Rodney K. Miller (Angela), Andrew V. Miller (Andrea), Jeffrey R. Miller (Susan), and Catherine V. Slowik; and her great-grandchildren Caitlin Miller, Grace Miller, Zoë Miller, and Ainslie Jane Miller. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to support maintenance of the historic St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Stone City Iowa c/o Fr. Nick March, 215 N. Garnavillo St., Anamosa, Iowa 52205. Services in Illinois handled by Gibbons Funeral Home, Elmhurst. Additional information available on the funeral home website at gibbonsfuneralhome.com or call 630-832-0018.
