Elizabeth C. “Elsie” Kohapka (nee Dybek), 103, of Oak Park, died on March 21, 2020. Born on Sept. 7, 1916, as a young women, she owned and operated a grocery/meat market in Chicago with her husband (a precursor to the supermarket concept) and later became an administrator managing the office of a research department at Northwestern University Medical School. Her hobby was ballroom dancing for which she won many trophies. An avid home decorator, she was given an award by the village of Oak Park for the excellent appearance of her Victorian home.
Elsie Kohapka was the wife of the late Anthony Kohapka; the daughter of the late Victoria and Michael Dybek; sister of the late Stanley (the late Adeline) Dybek, the late Rudolph (the late Marie) and the late Victor (the late Rose) Dybeck, the late Gertrude (the late Norbert) Zielinski and the late Olga (the late Edmund) Sala; the aunt of Stuart, David and Thomas Dybek, Dennis Dybeck, Robert and the late Marlene and the late Arthur Dybeck, Gloria Casey, Nancy Jenkover Podwika and the late Louise Zielinski, and Lawrence, Jerome and Terrance Sala; and the great-aunt of many.
A memorial mass will be celebrated at St. Edmund Church in Oak Park at a later date. Private entombment was held at Resurrection Cemetery Mausoleum.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the American Cancer Society (cancer.org) would be appreciated.
Arrangements were handled by Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home.
