Gloria Ann Warczak

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 28, 1936.  Born to eternal life on August 10, 2021.

Gloria, of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, died peacefully at the age of 84, following a long and difficult battle with dementia.  She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 61 years, Patrick Sr.  She is survived by their two sons, Christopher of Manhattan, Kansas, and Patrick Jr. (Tannell) of Kent, Ohio, eight adoring grandchildren, her younger sister Carol Schmidt, and her younger brothers, Armin and Daniel.  Gloria and Patrick were preceded in death by their only daughter, Victoria, who died at birth in 1961, and their firstborn son, Dennis (Kathy) who passed away in 1996.

Gloria was a lover of many creative endeavors.  She enjoyed drawing and painting from an early age, and was offered an art scholarship in her teens.  She played the piano for many years, taking lessons from the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music and her good friend, musician and teacher Lynn Roginske.  Gloria also loved to read and write, even getting some of her poems published over the years.  But her truest passion was surely food.  Gloria spent many of her days gardening, canning and freezing fruits and vegetables, baking wonderful pies, cakes, and cookies, and preparing meals for the family and their friends.  She loved to entertain guests with tremendous multicourse meals at a table decorated just so, with loving attention to the seasons and holidays.  The Warczak home was often filled with the sweet aromas of berries stewing on the stovetop, pastries in the oven, or the savory smell of dinner simmering in the roaster.  In the 1990s, after the kids had grown and moved away, Gloria was named field editor for Taste of Home magazine.  Many of her recipes live on in the pages of the magazine and its numerous cookbooks.

Gloria met her husband, Patrick Sr., at A.O. Smith Co. in Milwaukee in the late 1950s, and they moved to Cedarburg in 1969 where they raised their three boys.  Over the last two decades, Gloria encountered many health issues, including diabetes and Macular Degeneration disease which rendered her legally blind.  Gloria had open heart surgery in early 2017, and over the next three years slipped away into a fog of severe dementia.  Husband Patrick did his best to care for her at home, but made the difficult decision last year to have Gloria admitted to an Assisted Living Facility.  Just this past May, Patrick was suddenly diagnosed with Leukemia, and died on Father's Day.  Gloria held on for another seven weeks before the Lord took her to reunite with Patrick Sr. and their son, Dennis.

A Catholic funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM, Saturday, September 4, 2021, at St. Francis Borgia Church in Cedarburg (1375 Covered Bridge Rd.).

In lieu of flowers, the family would be pleased to accept your donations to help offset the costs of funeral and healthcare related expenses: https://gofund.me/606d8af7

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