Sandy Edmonds remembers her mother, Carolyn Marguerite Retzinger, as a loving woman of deep faith and a devoted nurse who friends and relatives turned to for advice and treatment for nicks, scraps and the every day bruises that come with life.
“My mother was probably the kindest person you’d ever meet,” Edmonds said. “She was unbelievably pure.”
Carolyn Marguerite Retzinger passed away during an afternoon nap at home on Jan. 13 at age 99. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Pauline and Aloysius J. Brehm on Aug. 27, 1922 and her family moved to Northbrook in 1928.
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Carolyn attended Mallinckrodt High School in Wilmette and graduated in 1944 from Loyola University/St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing. Her first job was at the Landwehr Department store in the “Northbrook Triangle” and then she worked as a switchboard operator, said Edmonds.
She said her mother was a founding member and the first president of the Northbrook Nurses Club and helped found the “Lending Closet” which makes wheelchairs, walkers, and other medical equipment available to anyone who needs them. The Lending Closet is still at the Northbrook Park District’s Senior Center. She was also a nurse volunteer at St. Norbert School in Northbrook.
“They used to check eyes and give polio shots. She was very interested in nursing and health her whole life,” Edmonds said. “In the old days many relatives and friends would come to her for treatment and advice when they got everyday cuts or burns or for treatment of minor health issues. They would just show up.”
Edmonds also said her mother was active as a “Guild member” at St. Norbert Catholic Church in Northbrook, chairing the sewing booth at the annual bazaar and a Cub Scout Den Mother who volunteered as a nurse at the annual Northbrook Days celebration.
She also described her mother as a woman of deep faith.
“She was completely devoted to family, friends, nursing and her church,” Edmonds said. “She was a really devoted Catholic. She said the Rosary every day and prayed with my Dad.”
Edmonds also said her mother was a dedicated gardener at home and in Florida where she and her husband of 64-years, Robert A. Retzinger, often spent time during the winter. She said her mother was a member of the Lauderdale by the Sea Garden Club and that she also enjoyed playing cards and piano.
“She loved playing old tunes from the 1940s and 1950s,” she said.
Edmonds said the family used to vacation in, Eagle River, Wi., and that her mother, always up for a challenge, learned to water ski when she was 45-year-old.
She also said that her father, Robert A. Retzinger, was a well know and respected homebuilder who built custom homes on Woodlock Drive and on surrounding streets in Northbrook and beyond in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and that her mother helped him run the business while raising their family.
Carolyn Marguerite Retzinger was preceded in death by her husband, Robert A. Retzinger, siblings Mary Alice Kraft Dolinaj, Helen Horcher, Edna Brehm, and Aloysius Brehm Jr., who died as a newborn. She is survived by her brother Robert Brehm, and three children, Thomas (Sheila) Retzinger of Baileys Harbor Wi, Sandy (Peter) Edmonds of Vernon Hills Ill., and Linda (Bruce) McLelland of Fuquay, Varina N.C. She also has five grandchildren. She has five dear grandchildren, Amy (Luis) Retzinger-Pires, Andrea (Hans Jorg) Dochterman, Tim (Alice) Retzinger, Kate Retzinger, and Caroline (Seth) Cumberledge. A Mass and celebration of life event will be held in the summer.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.