Vilma JoAnn Schelewitz, of Hillside, Lake Carroll and recently Palos Park, passed away on April 21 at the age of 89.
Vilma was born on December 24, 1936 to Maria and Guerino Tessaro. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago alongside her sister Flo, aunts, uncles and cousins. After attending Ray Elementary School and Hyde Park High School, Vilma went on to earn a degree from Northern Illinois University where she first met her future husband, Tom Schelewitz.
After school, Vilma embarked on a 2-month solo adventure in Europe where among other locations, she visited her Italian ancestral home of Rivai. Upon her return home, she was drawn to the mountains and moved to Colorado where she was an avid skier and worked as a teacher before returning to Chicago.
After seven years apart, Vil and Tom reconnected on a ski hill in Michigan and were married in 1966. Vilma raised her three children, kept a beautiful home, played tennis, bridge and continued to ski well into her 60s. Vilma was a devoted Catholic and an active parishioner at St. Domitilla in Hillside where she served alongside Tom as an RCIA sponsor.
Vilma always made sure the house was decorated for holidays and birthdays and the kids were always thrilled to wake up to banners and balloons to celebrate. She was always creative and together with the kids would make arts and crafts and was especially skilled at making custom Halloween costumes. She and Tom took great pride in keeping a beautiful yard and garden where they often entertained family and friends.
When the children were in school, Vilma worked as a substitute teacher, at the Oak Brook Tennis Club and often helped doing secretarial work at Tom’s workplace, Associated Equipment Distributors.
In 2004, Vil and Tom built their dream home in Lake Carroll where they retired to play golf and tennis, take boat rides and visit with friends and neighbors within the Lake Carroll and St. Wendelin Parish communities. During these golden years, Vil and Tom loved to travel, especially on a Princess Cruise and to Arizona.
In 2021, Vil and Tom moved to Palos Park to live with their daughter Suzi and son-in-law Greg. It was in their beautiful home and under their devoted care that Vil and Tom spent their last years together with family before Tom’s passing in April 2023. After more than a decade living with dementia, Jesus peacefully called Vilma home on a sunny spring morning to join her beloved Tom.