Elfriede Anna (Meiser) McGill

Elfriede Anna (Meiser) McGill was born on April 28, 1932 in Merchweiler, Germany, to Bernhard and Maria (Dorrenbächer) Meiser. She is preceded in death by husband James “Jim” McGill, her sister Hildegard (Meiser) Strunk, her brother Hans Meiser, and her parents.

Surviving her are her three children, Norman (Sheri) McGill, Monica (Dan Mansfield) McGill, and Chris (Julie) McGill; ten grandchildren (Annamaria McGill Lu, Ava Lu, Brad McGill, Collin McGill, Ian McGill, Miles McGill, Mitch McGill, Nicole (Jackson Roach) McGill, Olivia Lu, Sean McGill); and two brothers, Rudolf (Paula) Meiser of Hungary and Bernhard (Ilka) Meiser of Germany.

Born in Germany, Elfriede grew up near the French border in a country being ravaged by World War II. Many of her stories of that time included severe hunger for months, a sense of death constantly surrounding her, and bombers that at times dropped their destructive weapons on her hometown. Starting at age 9, she and her older brother would watch as V2 rockets flew overhead or enemy planes flew deeper into Germany. One day, while standing in the doorway and watching bombers overhead, bombs started to drop and a bomb landed about 25 feet from her, the force of which threw her into the family’s basement. Shell-shocked, she recovered. Growing up through this shaped her understanding of how fragile life is and formed one of her mottos, “life is for the living.” And living she did.

Elfriede went on to become a nurse working with premature babies. In 1959, she and her girlfriends decided to go to Oktoberfest. There, while sitting at a table singing German songs, drinking beer, and having a bit of fun, she met a handsome young man who had been drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany. That man, James “Jim” McGill, would become her husband on July 12, 1960.

As Elfriede adjusted to life with Jim in Pekin, Illinois, she worked at St. Francis Hospital, continuing to care for premature babies. She and Jim then started their family, raising Norman, Monica, and Chris in North Pekin. Soon thereafter, she proudly became a U.S. citizen.

In the mid-70s, Elfriede took a full-time job as a bookkeeper/office manager at the Illinois State Lottery Office. As a mother who worked outside the home, she was a busy woman who was forging a path at a time when women were not always afforded the opportunity to pursue a career. Elfriede accrued over twenty years of service at the Lottery Office.

While Jim was very active in the community, Elfriede made sure the home was always clean, organized, and German-style meals were on the table. She ensured the kids were well taken care of and she would use her fine seamstress skills to make many of Monica’s dresses. She maintained her flower gardens and roses every year, and tried to salvage what she could from the garden that Jim always had to have. And when having a bad moment or a bad day, she would even unintentionally teach her kids quite colorful German words.

Elfriede never tired of correcting people’s pronunciation of her name (“El-free-da”) and explaining where her accent was from. Sometimes, when away from central Illinois and asked about her accent, Elfriede would be a bit ornery and say she was from Peoria, Illinois. The family still isn’t quite sure how many people now think Peorians speak with a German accent.

Elfriede and Jim travelled as they were able, often visiting Elfriede’s family in Europe. She loved to spend time with family and helped in the care of all ten grandchildren. She and Jim were active members of the German American Society in Peoria, where they promoted German culture in Peoria while sharing American culture with those in Peoria’s sister city of Friedrichshafen, Germany. She and Jim found particular joy in dancing to German polka music and could often be found on the dance floor moving in perfect unison.

She cared for Jim while he battled cancer twice, losing the second battle in 2011. She will rest comfortably with him in Pekin Glendale Memorial Gardens Cemetery after a visitation Wednesday, September 19th from 5 to 7 pm at Davison-Fulton Woolsey-Wilton Funeral Home and a funeral service to be held Thursday, September 20th at 2pm with visitation one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Though she loved flowers, she was also a frugal and practical woman. Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Illinois Cancer Center which treated both Jim and Elfriede on and off over the last 20 years. The family credits the longevity of their lives to the care given to them by Dr. Michael Veeder and his team, who all remain heroes to the family.

As her family mourns her passing, they hold onto her motto that “life is for the living”. And, like her, living they will do.