Vera Edna Stronczek, age 82, of Oak Lawn and formerly of Chicago, died Saturday, April 12 at the Concord Nursing Home in Oak Lawn. She was born on December 29, 1925 in Chicago to Anthony and Sarah Wylie.

Vera attended the Art Institute of Chicago until WWII when she went to work for the Ford Aircraft Plant. She worked as an editor at Time Life Magazine and later worked in Pathology Department at Mercy Hospital. She was an artist and was an award winning dress designer.

She was very involved in the Back of the Yards community where she was president of the PTA at Seward School, worked in Girl Scouts, volunteered with the VFW auxiliary and started the first clinic for polio inoculations in 1953.

She is survived by one daughter, Linda (Wayne) Gray, two grandchildren, Jason (Dawn) Gray and Audra Gray, two great-grandsons, Jack and Quin, and one sister, Helen (Raymond) Hermes.

A funeral service will be held on Friday, April 18, at 8 p.m. at Oak Lawn Bible Church, 9435 S. 54th Ave., Oak Lawn, IL, 60453. Friends may visit with the family from 3 to 8 p.m. Interment is private.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the church mission's fund.

Info at christianfuneralservices.com or at Hultgren's Christian Funeral Service at 877-771-4513