Mary Godwin - Van Etten - Ward - Wolkonsky
Mary Ward Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist, but she is credited with furthering women's role in culture in Chicago.
Her list of civic involvements included helping found women's boards at the Lyric Opera, the Art Institute and the University of Chicago, as well as creating the civic groups Know Your Chicago, now in its 54th year, and Bright New City, which closed in 1997 after 25 years.
In the 1950s she worked with Planned Parenthood, traveling with its founder, Margaret Sanger, to India for an international conference on birth control--an issue Mrs. Wolkonsky considered the world's most important social cause.
Until two weeks ago, she was still attending fundraisers, organizing forums and pushing to keep Chicago a world-class city.
"She was a sensational lady who at age 94 still found things that were fun," said her friend Susan Aaron. "She never got old."
Mrs. Wolkonsky, who lived in both Chicago and Lake Forest, died Sunday, Aug. 11, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after suffering a stroke 11 days ago.
Her first husband was J. Harris Ward, a chairman of Commonwealth Edison who died in 1974.
Five years later, she married Dr. Peter Wolkonsky, the medical director of Amoco, who died in 1999.
"I think she felt you get so much out of life if you are involved in things," said her friend Ellen O'Connor, president of Know Your Chicago, which holds a series of annual seminars and tours explaining how the city works.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, an only child, was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in English literature and moved to Boston to take a job with a tour boat line. It was while there that she met her first husband.
His first job with ComEd brought Mrs. Wolkonsky to Chicago, where she devoted her energies to cause after cause.
"Her story is the story of someone who did a lot to increase the role of women in the city's cultural life," said her son, David Ward.
Though she devoted much of her life to pushing women's involvement and considered Sanger the most important woman of the 20th Century, Mrs. Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist.
"I don't like a lot of things that feminists have done . . . I don't like the fighting that goes on to bring equality about," she told the Chicago Historical Society in an interview in 1997.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, a jazz enthusiast and an expert at needlepoint, was always a free spirit.
A month ago, she went with a group of art lovers to Milwaukee to view the new wing of the art museum there. As they sat down for lunch and everyone began ordering drinks, mainly iced tea, Mrs. Wolkonsky declared she was going to have a beer, O'Connor said.
If you go to Milwaukee, you have a beer, she told the group.
"I've never known anyone like her," said O'Connor. "She was an incredible woman."
In addition to her son, Mrs. Wolkonsky is survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
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Mary Ward Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist, but she is credited with furthering women's role in culture in Chicago.
Her list of civic involvements included helping found women's boards at the Lyric Opera, the Art Institute and the University of Chicago, as well as creating the civic groups Know Your Chicago, now in its 54th year, and Bright New City, which closed in 1997 after 25 years.
In the 1950s she worked with Planned Parenthood, traveling with its founder, Margaret Sanger, to India for an international conference on birth control--an issue Mrs. Wolkonsky considered the world's most important social cause.
Until two weeks ago, she was still attending fundraisers, organizing forums and pushing to keep Chicago a world-class city.
"She was a sensational lady who at age 94 still found things that were fun," said her friend Susan Aaron. "She never got old."
Mrs. Wolkonsky, who lived in both Chicago and Lake Forest, died Sunday, Aug. 11, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after suffering a stroke 11 days ago.
Her first husband was J. Harris Ward, a chairman of Commonwealth Edison who died in 1974.
Five years later, she married Dr. Peter Wolkonsky, the medical director of Amoco, who died in 1999.
"I think she felt you get so much out of life if you are involved in things," said her friend Ellen O'Connor, president of Know Your Chicago, which holds a series of annual seminars and tours explaining how the city works.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, an only child, was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in English literature and moved to Boston to take a job with a tour boat line. It was while there that she met her first husband.
His first job with ComEd brought Mrs. Wolkonsky to Chicago, where she devoted her energies to cause after cause.
"Her story is the story of someone who did a lot to increase the role of women in the city's cultural life," said her son, David Ward.
Though she devoted much of her life to pushing women's involvement and considered Sanger the most important woman of the 20th Century, Mrs. Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist.
"I don't like a lot of things that feminists have done . . . I don't like the fighting that goes on to bring equality about," she told the Chicago Historical Society in an interview in 1997.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, a jazz enthusiast and an expert at needlepoint, was always a free spirit.
A month ago, she went with a group of art lovers to Milwaukee to view the new wing of the art museum there. As they sat down for lunch and everyone began ordering drinks, mainly iced tea, Mrs. Wolkonsky declared she was going to have a beer, O'Connor said.
If you go to Milwaukee, you have a beer, she told the group.
"I've never known anyone like her," said O'Connor. "She was an incredible woman."
In addition to her son, Mrs. Wolkonsky is survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
ob;
Mary Godwin - Van Etten - Ward - Wolkonsky
Mary Ward Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist, but she is credited with furthering women's role in culture in Chicago.
Her list of civic involvements included helping found women's boards at the Lyric Opera, the Art Institute and the University of Chicago, as well as creating the civic groups Know Your Chicago, now in its 54th year, and Bright New City, which closed in 1997 after 25 years.
In the 1950s she worked with Planned Parenthood, traveling with its founder, Margaret Sanger, to India for an international conference on birth control--an issue Mrs. Wolkonsky considered the world's most important social cause.
Until two weeks ago, she was still attending fundraisers, organizing forums and pushing to keep Chicago a world-class city.
"She was a sensational lady who at age 94 still found things that were fun," said her friend Susan Aaron. "She never got old."
Mrs. Wolkonsky, who lived in both Chicago and Lake Forest, died Sunday, Aug. 11, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after suffering a stroke 11 days ago.
Her first husband was J. Harris Ward, a chairman of Commonwealth Edison who died in 1974.
Five years later, she married Dr. Peter Wolkonsky, the medical director of Amoco, who died in 1999.
"I think she felt you get so much out of life if you are involved in things," said her friend Ellen O'Connor, president of Know Your Chicago, which holds a series of annual seminars and tours explaining how the city works.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, an only child, was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in English literature and moved to Boston to take a job with a tour boat line. It was while there that she met her first husband.
His first job with ComEd brought Mrs. Wolkonsky to Chicago, where she devoted her energies to cause after cause.
"Her story is the story of someone who did a lot to increase the role of women in the city's cultural life," said her son, David Ward.
Though she devoted much of her life to pushing women's involvement and considered Sanger the most important woman of the 20th Century, Mrs. Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist.
"I don't like a lot of things that feminists have done . . . I don't like the fighting that goes on to bring equality about," she told the Chicago Historical Society in an interview in 1997.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, a jazz enthusiast and an expert at needlepoint, was always a free spirit.
A month ago, she went with a group of art lovers to Milwaukee to view the new wing of the art museum there. As they sat down for lunch and everyone began ordering drinks, mainly iced tea, Mrs. Wolkonsky declared she was going to have a beer, O'Connor said.
If you go to Milwaukee, you have a beer, she told the group.
"I've never known anyone like her," said O'Connor. "She was an incredible woman."
In addition to her son, Mrs. Wolkonsky is survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
ob;
Mary Ward Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist, but she is credited with furthering women's role in culture in Chicago.
Her list of civic involvements included helping found women's boards at the Lyric Opera, the Art Institute and the University of Chicago, as well as creating the civic groups Know Your Chicago, now in its 54th year, and Bright New City, which closed in 1997 after 25 years.
In the 1950s she worked with Planned Parenthood, traveling with its founder, Margaret Sanger, to India for an international conference on birth control--an issue Mrs. Wolkonsky considered the world's most important social cause.
Until two weeks ago, she was still attending fundraisers, organizing forums and pushing to keep Chicago a world-class city.
"She was a sensational lady who at age 94 still found things that were fun," said her friend Susan Aaron. "She never got old."
Mrs. Wolkonsky, who lived in both Chicago and Lake Forest, died Sunday, Aug. 11, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after suffering a stroke 11 days ago.
Her first husband was J. Harris Ward, a chairman of Commonwealth Edison who died in 1974.
Five years later, she married Dr. Peter Wolkonsky, the medical director of Amoco, who died in 1999.
"I think she felt you get so much out of life if you are involved in things," said her friend Ellen O'Connor, president of Know Your Chicago, which holds a series of annual seminars and tours explaining how the city works.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, an only child, was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in English literature and moved to Boston to take a job with a tour boat line. It was while there that she met her first husband.
His first job with ComEd brought Mrs. Wolkonsky to Chicago, where she devoted her energies to cause after cause.
"Her story is the story of someone who did a lot to increase the role of women in the city's cultural life," said her son, David Ward.
Though she devoted much of her life to pushing women's involvement and considered Sanger the most important woman of the 20th Century, Mrs. Wolkonsky didn't consider herself a feminist.
"I don't like a lot of things that feminists have done . . . I don't like the fighting that goes on to bring equality about," she told the Chicago Historical Society in an interview in 1997.
Mrs. Wolkonsky, a jazz enthusiast and an expert at needlepoint, was always a free spirit.
A month ago, she went with a group of art lovers to Milwaukee to view the new wing of the art museum there. As they sat down for lunch and everyone began ordering drinks, mainly iced tea, Mrs. Wolkonsky declared she was going to have a beer, O'Connor said.
If you go to Milwaukee, you have a beer, she told the group.
"I've never known anyone like her," said O'Connor. "She was an incredible woman."
In addition to her son, Mrs. Wolkonsky is survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in the fall.
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