Clarence Walter Sieloff

Clarence Walter Sieloff was born at home in Brookfield, Illinois on October 13, 1934 to parents Clarence and Violet. He was given the nickname "Bud" at an early age and although he was an only child, his father's family was large, so there were plenty of cousins around during his childhood. He attended Lyons Township high school, where he met his future wife, Ann. After high school he went off to Purdue University to study civil engineering. He and Ann married in 1954 and after finishing college he went to work at Ryerson Steel while they started a family. They welcomed a son and a daughter and they moved to Lisle, Illinois in 1958 and had another son shortly afterward.

Bud and Ann worked hard, raised their children, enjoyed their friends and neighbors, and watched as their community grew along with their family. Bud started working at Inryco as a draftsman and estimator. He also started his own business, B & S Engineering, during this time.

Once the children were grown, Bud retired from Inryco after 30 years and worked full-time with his own engineering business. Bud and Ann traveled often and spent lots of time with family and friends. Then came the grandchildren. Oh, what a proud Poppa he was, and even prouder once great-grandchildren came along. To date, he has eleven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

After Ann passed in 2014, he decided to retire again, for a total of 60 years in the engineering business. He adopted a shelter cat named Pepper who became his constant companion. He was a daily customer at Jam 'N Jelly Cafe and became friends with the owners, staff and other customers. He took weekly exercise classes and rediscovered a favorite hobby of latch hook crafting. He designed and created many wall hangings and rugs and gifted the owners of Jam 'N Jelly Cafe a wall hanging of their company logo, which is still on display at the restaurant. He loved watching game shows and sports and was fascinated by archeology. He often said that if life had turned out differently, he would have been an archeologist. This was a source of great amusement to his children who tried to imagine their dad on his hands and knees unearthing ancient ruins and relics with small tools brushing away the dust.

He was hospitalized with Covid in the summer of 2022, and after a short stint in a rehab facility, he decided that living on his own might be too challenging. He was referred to the Sunrise of Naperville North senior living facility for a short respite stay while he decided on his next steps. Although intended to be temporary, he liked it so much that he decided to move in permanently, especially once he found out his cat could live with him there.

He loved being at Sunrise the past three years. Sunrise staff called him Clarence or Mr. Fantastic, since he always had the same answer when asked how he was - "fantastic". He quickly became part of the community and everyone liked him. The typical response from anyone when Clarence's name came up was "oh, he is such a nice man!". He was made a Sunrise resident ambassador, named President of the resident council and was a bingo champion. He bragged often about how great his retirement was at Sunrise.

He dealt with a number of medical challenges during the last three years, but rallied and pulled through all of them, with good spirits and sense of humor intact, until this last brief illness which sadly he did not survive. He passed away peacefully at Sunrise on August 21st, with his daughter Deborah and cat Pepper by his side. He was preceded in death by his wife Ann (2014), son Bradley (2017) and son Stephen (2025). He is survived by his daughter Deborah, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and many cousins and extended family.

For those wishing to honor his life, a visitation will be held on Tuesday, September 2nd from 3pm to 8pm at Blake Lamb Funeral Home, 5015 Lincoln Avenue, Lisle, Illinois 60532. Funeral and interment private.