Grace Viola (Schrack) Salava

Grace Viola (Schrack) Salava, 91, passed away peacefully on December 10, 2012 in McHenry, IL, at the McHenry Villa under hospice care. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 19, 1921, the only child of Frederick Conrad Schrack and Mildred Matson Schrack. She was raised in Chicago and educated in the Chicago public schools, graduating early at the age of sixteen from Carl Schurz High School in the class of 1938.

In September of 1941, when Grace was visiting her aunt and uncle in Duck Lake Woods, northwest of Chicago, she met Victor Salava, Jr., whose parents lived in the same community.
They were married at her aunt's house on May 16, 1942. They rented a flat in nearby Wooster Lake until 1950, when they moved into a new house in Duck Lake Woods, which would be their home throughout their 61 years of marriage until Victor passed away in 2003. They were blessed with four children, four grandsons, and two great grandchildren.

Grace's first employer was the retail giant Montgomery Ward in their headquarters building on the Chicago River. Her first job involved routing mail throughout that huge building using cylindrical capsules propelled through hundreds of miles of pneumatic tubing, at the hefty salary of 35 cents an hour! During World War II she worked at the Douglas DC-3 Aircraft factory on Orchard Field, what is now O'Hare Airport. Later she worked part time as an office manager at Seyl Outboard Motors & Boats in Fox Lake, IL. She also worked for Baxter International Inc., as the maintenance department secretary in their facility in Round Lake, IL, for fourteen years, retiring in 1989.

Grace was an active member of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Long Lake, IL, from the late 1940s on, serving as a Sunday school teacher and being a willing volunteer in church projects. One of her most enjoyable activities through the years was her membership in the senior choir at Trinity.

Grace also gave back to the community as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader, as the President of the Parent-Teacher Organization of Big Hollow Elementary School in Ingleside, IL, and as a Grant Township Little League team mom. After her retirement, she was a gift shop volunteer at Centegra Medical Center, McHenry for 13 years.

Grace's hobbies included gardening, reading, traveling, watching Cubs games, and knitting. She knitted hundreds of pairs of mittens for young children in the area, donating through local schools and her church. She made numerous trips to Europe and Canada with friends and relatives during her years at Baxter and after retirement. During the last four years of her life grace was a resident at the McHenry Villa Retirement Center.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, her youngest daughter, Julie Salava Cumbow (Len) in 1980 and by her husband Victor Salava in 2003. Survivors include two daughters: Gail Anderson (William) of McHenry, IL, and Vicki Carroll of Sterling, Virginia; a son Gary Salava (Melanie) of Riverview, Florida; four grandsons: Brian Anderson (Shellie) of Bartlett, IL, Matthew Carroll (Elizabeth) of Chicago, Capt. Brandon Carroll (Emily) of El Paso, Texas, and Matthew Salava of Tallahassee, Florida; and two great grandchildren: Payton Snell and Will Anderson of Bartlett.

A memorial visitation will be from 10:30 AM until the 11 AM memorial service with a luncheon following will be held on January 26, 2013 at her life-long church home, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 25519 W. IL Route 134, Ingleside (Long Lake), IL 60041. .
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Grace's name to the Senior Choir of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. Inurnment will be private at the Grant Township Cemetery, off Molidor Road in Ingleside.