Carolyn Louise Wally

Carolyn Louise Wally (nee Noth), 84, of Lindenhurst Ill., was welcomed into the loving arms of Jesus on Aug. 15, 2024, after many health complications.

Carolyn was born to Carl and Caroline (nee Zapfel) Noth in Chicago, on April 23, 1940. Carolyn was raised on the south side of Chicago with her younger sister Susan (Severance) and graduated from Lindbloom High School in 1958. It was not long after this that Carolyn met her true love, John Wally, at a German dance in Chicago. Carolyn used to recount how she and her girlfriend giggled in the back seat while her mother, Caroline, practiced her German with John, who had immigrated from Germany and was giving them a ride home after the dance. This fateful night would lead to a 63-year marriage. Carolyn and John created a home in Franklin Park, Ill. where they raised their two daughters, Karen and Laura. Carolyn worked as a secretary before taking time off to be a stay-at-home mother and homemaker after the girls were born. During this time, she could be found hand-making Halloween costumes and Christmas stockings, chaperoning school field trips, driving her girls to music lessons, keeping the house spotless and putting a home-cooked meal on the table every night for the family. When her daughters were older, she went back to work and eventually became a contracting officer for the FAA, from which she retired in July 2000.

Carolyn spent her childhood as an avid pianist, a talent she continued to pursue for decades. Her creative side was fed by hobbies such as quilting, knitting, sewing, needlepoint, baking and cooking. She was able to use her musical talent to fill in as church organist and choir director at various times in her life and instilled in her daughters the importance of discipline and commitment as they took piano and other music lessons for many years.

Carolyn and John had made the vow of “in sickness and in health” when they got married on June 17, 1961, and these were words that resonated throughout their marriage. Carolyn became known by her family as “being like a cat with nine lives” as she battled through two cancer diagnoses, two spine surgeries and multiple other health problems. John, thinking they did not have much time together soon after marriage, bought a little cottage in Minocqua in 1964 that became their peaceful getaway and eventually their retirement dream home. On April 25, 2007, Carolyn received the gift of life in the form of a heart transplant after her original heart was irreparably damaged by chemotherapy years before. She guarded this new heart for 17 years and it was beating strongly when other organs failed and she felt the tug of the angels.

Carolyn was raised in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, read the Bible daily and had an unwavering faith in God as her protector and in the promise of eternal life with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She and John were founding members of Peace Lutheran Church in Arbor Vitae, and made many wonderful friends during their time there. Her faith kept her strong through all of life’s challenges, including John’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis not long after his 80th birthday. Carolyn was committed that they stay together, even as life on their own got more challenging and they had to move from their home into facilities with more support. She was holding John’s hand when he died on May 31, 2024, and they were reunited to rest peacefully together on Aug. 15, 2024.

Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, her husband John Wally, her nephew Tony Kozar and her brothers-in-law Peter Severance, Joseph Wally, and Erich George. She is survived by her daughter Karen and her husband Mark Jackson and their children Cole and Celia, her daughter Laura Wally and her husband Douglas Hyde, sister Susan Severance, and in-laws Maria George, Karl Wally, Elizabeth Neuberger (Karl), Stephen Hanson and Valendon Wally and many nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly.

To honor the eternal couple, the John and Carolyn Wally Endowment https://bit.ly/AlzheimersCenter

Center) has been set up by her daughters. The endowment will support The Smith Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where her daughter Laura received her medical degree. A memorial service for her and John was held shortly after Carolyn’s death.