Winifred “Winnie” Louise Sievert

An indomitable spirit of the Northwoods has taken flight. Winifred (Winnie) Louise Sievert (nee Wilke) born August 5, 1930, passed away peacefully at home on April 20, 2026 with some of her family by her side and all of her family holding her in their hearts and prayers. She has joined her beloved husband, Carl Sievert (November 25, 1924 - December 13, 2019) and together they are singing and dancing with the heavenly host.

Born from first generation German Americans and raised in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Winnie spent long summers in the Presque Isle area since the early 1940s where her father built a number of homes along the shores of Oxbow Lake. She grew up fishing and exploring the lake with her sisters, Caroline Knapp and Marie Wilke-Dolber. 

It was in this beautiful Northwoods setting that she met Carl, as his family had a cottage nearby on Birch Lake. They married in 1950, building their first house in Elmhurst, and then moving to Oak Park, Ill. in 1960 where they raised their family of five children. During this time, Winnie was also an active volunteer at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, at Cook County Hospital, and as a docent at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In the early 1990s, they retired to their cottage on Oxbow Lake, fulfilling their dream of creating a welcoming sanctuary for loved ones. Their home became a vibrant hub for countless family vacations, visits, winter sledding adventures, and multi-generational celebrations. Winnie quickly became an essential pillar of the Presque Isle community, and active in the wider Northwoods community, participating in Presque Isle’s reader’s theatre, the Manito Art League, a bridge group, biking, and kayaking with the Lady Yakkers. As president of the Presque Isle Heritage Society, she worked closely with her dear friend Peggy Johnson Wiessner to document local history, gather resident narratives, and raise critical funds. 

Renowned for her legendary warmth and hospitality, Winnie was a magnificent chef who provided meals, baked wedding cakes, and threw spontaneous parties for no reason at all. A visit to her cottage would be a window into the past, with hundreds of items scattered around her cottage and perched on her windowsills each with a story she delighted in telling. She was an exceptionally voracious reader on an impressive number of topics, a passionate lover of opera, symphonic music, painting, gardening, and water sports, and she delighted in feeding small birds and chipmunks right from her hands. Winnie’s enthusiasm for all the seasons in the Northwoods was infectious. She was happy to make sled runs or build igloos in winter or just sit on the deck in warmer weather with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, observing and remarking on the changing beauty of the Northwoods. Every summer around her birthday, and well into her 90s, she could be seen performing one of her dives for her appreciative children and grandchildren.

Winnie loved abundantly, is survived by and will be deeply missed by her children Wendy Sacha (Mike), Carl Sievert (Terri Elliott), Cheryl Sievert (Timothy Scott), Jenny Adams (Arthur), Mark Sievert (Sarah), and their spouses, her daughter in law (Linda Vanderpearl Sievert), her sister Marie, fourteen grandchildren and ten great grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces and nephews and countless dear friends, whose lives she touched. She was a remarkable woman who lived with boundless optimism and gratitude - joyfully, faithfully, and lovingly.