Sylvia Koscielski

Sylvia was wickedly intelligent in many ways. She got her pilot's license when she was 16 years old and took to stunt flying with her brother John. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in Oconto. She went on to attend Marquette University for one year and then attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy where she was one of only two women in her graduating class. She married Larry Koscielski on December 28th, 1963, and they worked together as pharmacists at their business, the Quisling Clinic Pharmacy in Madison, Wisconsin for over 30 years. After Larry's death, she continued to work at Shopko and for RPh On The Go with whom she traveled to different pharmacies in Northern Wisconsin.

Sylvia loved her family. She had a great sense of humor and laughed easily. A mother of five, she always said if one of her kids decided to dye their hair purple, instead of reprimanding them she would dye her hair purple too.

Sylvia was an eccentric hobbyist. She was an Avon lady, a seller of Coppercraft, Tupperware, Amway, and Artex, and a painter of ceramics. She was an insatiable reader, most recently of Nora Roberts books. As a child, she was an avid reader of Zane Grey westerns and The Hardy Boys series. She loved to drive her Silverado around town looking for garage sale treasures. She was an “extreme couponer” before it was a thing. Certainly, we would never run out of toilet paper or canned corn at the Koscielski house.

Sylvia’s quirks and joys are remembered fondly. She made amazing fudge and loved turtle chocolates above all else. She also enjoyed hospital stays and hospital food. On a July afternoon she might be seen basking in the sun and floating on her back in her swimming pool at home. She encouraged skinny dipping much to the chagrin of her husband, kids and houseguests. Sylvia loved paging through her favorite magazines, People and Entertainment Weekly. She would speak of celebrities as if they were her own family. She loved watching Antiques Roadshow, Shark Tank, and The Hallmark Channel with the volume at full blast. In her sixties, Sylvia showed her zest for life by studying French, hosting an exchange student in Madison and traveling to Europe.

In March of 2018 when Sylvia’s health began to decline, she and her cat moved in with her eldest daughter Sheila in Northern Illinois, where she loved spending time with Sheila’s little dogs. In January of 2019, when she needed more extensive care, she moved 10 minutes away to Sunrise Assisted Living. In the last years of her life, she developed the miraculous ability to play any song she heard on the piano, an instrument she had barely played as a young girl. She loved to entertain the residents at Sunrise with her piano playing and could never sing without crying happy tears.

Sylvia was preceded in death by her first husband Lawrence Koscielski, second husband Keith Walrack, her infant brother Glen Joseph Rogers, and her beloved seal point Persian cat Lulu, who died just a few weeks prior. She is survived by her siblings John and "Buddy" Erwin Rogers and her 5 children, Sheila Kahl, Sara Meibom (Soren), Keith Koscielski, Daniel Koscielski, and Lisa Ervin (Kyle), her grandchildren Coltin and Taytum Kahl, Mia and Viktor Meibom, Tabitha, Breanna, Luke, and Levi Koscielski, and Wade and Vaughn Ervin, her nieces and nephew Michelle, Jacqueline, Rene (née Rogers), and Mark Rogers, and her great nephews Bobby and Johnny Rogers.

In keeping with her medical background as the daughter of a doctor and a pharmacist herself, Sylvia chose to donate her body to the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois for use in medical education. The family would like to thank the devoted staff at Sunrise Assisted Living of Gurnee for their exemplary care and compassion for Sylvia. Also, tremendous thanks to JourneyCare Hospice and her nurse Kate.

In lieu of flowers and a service, we ask for donations in her memory to Animal Education and Rescue at www.aear.org