Vivian Wezlowski was a working mother for most of her life, and her favorite job of all was at a nursing home, she told her grandson.
“My mother was a very caring person,” according to her daughter, Nancy. “She was a caregiver all her life. She said people go (to a nursing home) and get forgotten about; all they want is someone to hold their hand.”
Eventually, Wezlowski needed care herself -- at the St. James Manor in Crete.
“The social worker said to me that my mother was a caregiver all the way up to the end. She always going up to (people), talking to them, holding their hand.”
Wezlowski was born in Calumet City, one of 14 children. At the time of her death, at 93, she was the last survivor of those 14 children.
“My grandparents always made them say their prayers and go to church. They were raised to do the right thing.”
Her mother told of happy days when her father would make a long sled and hitch up the family horse, Teddy, said Nancy Wezlowski. The kids in the neighborhood would line up to ride on the sled.
Wezlowski and her husband, Ted, had four daughters. She was widowed at a young age.
“She had many hardships, but she still moved on. She has been an inspiration,” she said.
Wezlowski worked and eventually retired from St. Margaret’s Hospital in Hammond. After retiring she went to work for Companion Care.
Wezlowski led a rich life with her family, enjoying not only her daughters by grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“She had a unique sense of humor, was very fun loving,” her daughter said. “She used to say, without families, you don’t have anybody. She was the heartline and foundation of our family.”
Wezlowski was a Cubs fan, a Gold Star Member of the Ladies Auxiliary American Legion Post 330, Royal Neighbors of America, and the Calumet City Civic League.
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