Elderly Streamwood couple die on same day

Bruno and Waltraut Skrzypkowski of Streamwood began their married life together 59 years ago in Germany and would never feel the pain of separation.

The two died nearly simultaneously Friday morning after suffering heart attacks at their home on Myrtle Lane.

Both were in declining health but still able to live independently and look after each other, their daughter Regina Majewski said.

But Waltraut, 80, was in more fragile condition than her 85-year-old husband and needed more assistance.

Majewski believes her father was helping her mother to bathe on Friday morning when she suffered some kind of attack that probably left him confused and upset about her condition.

That probably excited his own delicate health and caused him to collapse as well, Majewski said.

It was while in these unresponsive states that they were discovered and paramedics called at 11:15 a.m. Friday. They were taken to St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates where they were pronounced dead at 11:50 a.m.

Bruno's cause of death was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, while Waltraut's was hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Bruno was a native of Poland, but from an ethnic German family whose name was originally Geiger until they had to take a Polish name in order to own property, Majewski said.

Bruno became a soldier in World War II, serving with the British until he settled in Germany after the war and met his bride-to-be, their daughter said.

"They both loved to dance," Majewski said.

Her father was still in the service when she was born to the young couple in 1949. They moved to Chicago in 1951 through the sponsorship of an aunt who was already living there.

While Bruno worked as a machinist, his wife Waltraut made tools on an assembly line. They would have another daughter as well, Eleanor.

The couple lived in Chicago until 1987, when they moved to Streamwood to be closer to where Majewski and her husband were already living. After Majewski's husband passed away in 1993, the survivors looked after one another even more closely.

Bruno and Waltraut are also survived by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services for the couple will be held at 10 a.m. today at Countryside Funeral Home, 1640 Green Meadows Blvd. in Streamwood. Interment will at Lakewood Memorial Park in Elgin.