Submitted by: Dan Rich

Joann Walczak

Dec. 31, 1925 - Feb. 26, 2003

South Bend Tribune 3/9/2003

Joann Walczak, 77, a lifelong resident of South Bend, Ind., went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Charlotte, N.C.

The Mass of Resurrection was at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte on March 2, 2003. A memorial service for her many family members and friends in South Bend will be held at a later date. Joann was born in South Bend on Dec. 31, 1925. She graduated from South Bend Catholic High School in 1944, where she was prom queen. She earned her nursing degree in Mishawaka in 1947, and was employed in that capacity by Uniroyal and Studebaker. She was to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps for World War II, but did not serve due to the war's end. She married Stanley Walczak on Nov. 29, 1947, and they were married 55 years.

Joann was a member of St. Hedwig's Catholic Church in South Bend. She was a kind and compassionate woman who put others' needs and desires before her own, and was beloved by everyone who was privileged to have her touch their lives. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the St. Hedwig's Educational Outreach Program.

She is survived by her husband, Stanley Walczak; son, Stanley Walczak Jr. and his wife, Jill of Aledo, Texas; daughter, Maureen Cherry and her husband, Mark of Charlotte, N.C.; sister, Kathleen Sobieralski and her husband, Leonard of South Bend; brothers, Richard Podell of South Bend and Norman Podell of Chicago, Ill.; grandson, Stanley Walczak III of Aledo; twin granddaughters, Jordan and Blair Cherry of Charlotte; and by 17 nieces and nephews, and numerous great-nieces, nephews and aunts.