Arlette Engblad Pratscher

Arlette Engblad Pratscher was born on November 9, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois, to Elsie M. (Voth) Engblad and John A. Engblad. On Christmas Day, she was baptized at First St. John Lutheran Church in Chicago. In 1931, she became a big sister when Delbert R. Engblad was born. She grew up on Cortez Street in a multi-flat house owned by relatives, with life revolving around family, school, work, and church.

In 1944, she graduated from the Austin High School, where she was involved in NHS, the choirs, and served as the typist for the Maroon and White annual yearbook. Her senior page noted her classmates nicknamed her "Artie," and stated: "Ambition: To Travel far and wide. 'Peppy, Popular, Personality-Plus.'" She went on to work, including as a legal secretary in downtown Chicago.

Through her church, she met and on September 9,1950, married Elmer H. Pratscher at Christ at Long and LeMoine in Chicago. On November 10, 1951, the couple was blessed with a son, Darryl Delbert Pratscher, by which time Arlette had returned home to live with her parents. After a divorce in May 1953, Arlette went on to work typing and stuffing envelopes from home, playing the piano and organ at weddings, funerals, and church events as well as at funeral homes.

She went on to work for a series of savings and loan associations in Chicago, including Hoyne at Milwaukee and Lawrence, Austin Federal Savings and Loan, Pathway Financial, and Chicago Federal Savings and Loan. She served as executive secretary to a Branch manager, taking notes in shorthand for the Board of Directors and learning to do real estate closings for the savings and loan. She later returned to the legal market, serving as secretary to attorney Helmut Eifert and other attorneys, including Susan Rentschler, at then Masada, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell, Ltd., in downtown Chicago, where she continued working through her retirement. She loved her work and her coworkers and managers, finding the subject matters she dealt with and the high standards required in the work engaging.

She served as the church organist and later directed the choir while playing and singing at churches, several of which became defunct as populations and mores shifted through the years. In October 2010, she joined St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Niles, Illinois.

Arlette dearly loved her son Darryl and her extended family. She enjoyed cousin reunions, holidays, vacations, and get-togethers. She collected Lladro figurines and loved shopping (including the downtown Wieboldt's and Marshall Fields' State Street store) and chocolate--not necessarily in that order. She loved roses and grew many bushes of various colors in her own yard, following in her father's footsteps with his pink roses that she watered while living at home. She crocheted throws, enjoyed sewing as her mother had, and made baby blankets of two flannels with a filling hand-stitched between for family members and friends. She made and hand beaded a wedding dress as requested by her dear niece Ellen Engblad, daughter of brother Delbert and Ann Engblad. She loved cooking, baking, and entertaining family, making two or three dozen varieties of cookies for Christmas but also adding, for example, a baked Alaska for dessert. She loved playing piano and organ; and singing, whether at church, home, or joining in a singalong production of Handel's Messiah.If you knew her, you may have heard her exclaim, "Who has more fun than us?"

Arlette got her wish to travel far and wide, often with her very dear cousin Robert H. Frenk. They went to Europe, including a river cruise and attending Oberammergau; as well as traveling to visit relatives and vacationing in condos, including in Florida and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Arlette mowed her own lawn on Menard in Chicago, and the one next door, until she was almost 80. She later moved to assisted living at Hearhstone in Arlington Heights, then to nursing care at the Lutheran Home there, and later to memory care. Arlette died Tuesday afternnoon, October 24, while a friend was having her smell Stargazer liilies and chatting to her while arranging tie-dye hydrangeas, and bright pink roses for her dresser.

Arlette was predeceased by her parents, her adored son Darryl Delbert Pratscher; her beloved brother Delbert Engblad and his wife Ann and their son Robert Mills (f/k/a Neil Englblad); her dear aunt Augusta and Uncle Henry Frenk and their sons, including Raymond W. and Robert H, Frenk of Bloomington, Illinois; her cousins Herb Voth of Arlington Heights, Eleanore Lenz of Chicago, and June Kelm of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; many friends including Natalie Eifert of Park Ridge; and former neighbors, including Marcie Iwansky (who wrote her monthly for over 15 years until Marcie's death) and Carol Anne Wolfgarth (who called her nightly for years so Arlette would know someone cared).

Arlette is survived by her niece Ellen Sass and sons John R. Sass and Randall P. Sass (Orland Park); her former nephew in law John P. Sass and his wife Debra Fickett-Sass (Mokena, Illinois); and friends, including Arline Jeschke (Ora Valley, Arizona), Jean Grunt (Arlington Heights, Illinois), and Shirley Wilgenbusch (Springfield, Illinois), and residents and staff members at Hearthstone and the Lutheran Home.

All are invited on Friday, October 28, 2023, to a visitation at 10 to 11 am, with service at 11, at St.Matthews Lutheran Church, 9081 N. Maryland Street, Niles, IL. On Monday, October 30, 2023, those attending interment may meet in cars at 10:40 am at the entry gate of Concordia Cemetery at 7900 Madison (at Van Buren) in Forest Park, Illinois, for 11 am proceedings, An additional memorial service will be scheduled in the future at the chapel at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights.

Memorial offerings may be directed to St. Matthews Lutheran Church of Niles, Illinois; or to underwrite innovative pilot projects at Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, c/o Robert Kahl, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Carnegie 417, Baltimore MD 21287-6417.

Funeral Information and condolences can be given at www.GlueckertFuneralHome.com or (847) 253-0168.