Longtime Des Plaines volunteer, a ‘mother to all’ remembered
Elizabeth Ann “Betty” Wurster always made sure everyone was comfortable and baked spectacular cookies for just about any occasion, those who knew her said.
“She baked cookies like you wouldn’t believe,” said Cindy Kunzer of Des Plaines, who knew Wurster through her longtime involvement with the Boy Scouts of America.
Whether at camp or during meetings, Wurster would be in the background, setting up and helping the cook staff, said Kunzer, program chair for the Blackhawk district of the Northwest Suburban Council. “She took care of her family and treated all us volunteers like we were her family, too,” she said.
Wurster, 75, of Des Plaines, died Thursday in her home, a day after spending the night in the hospital having complained of breathing difficulties, said her older sister, Patricia Moran of Gurnee.
On Wednesday, Wurster came home with instructions to visit her family doctor, Moran said. Later that afternoon, she complained of a headache and went to bed early. She was found dead the next morning in the home she shared with her youngest son, Charles Wurster.
Alan Amati of Des Plaines, chairman for the Blackhawk district of the Northwest Suburban Council, said Wurster always was warm and friendly.
“She was very upbeat, it took a lot to get her down,” he said. “She was one of those kinds of people who lights up the room.”
Wurster was president of the Des Plaines Kiwanis Club, Eagle project coordinator for the Northwest Suburban Council, and was active with the Knights of Columbus Tootsie Roll sale.
She was a member of Our Lady of Ransom in Niles, helped out at Christ Church in Des Plaines, and was very involved with the Boy Scouts’ nondenominational church, Amati said.
Her volunteerism and community service won her many awards, but Wurster shied away from the spotlight, Amati said.
“She was the heart and soul of our district,” Amati said. “She never turned down a chance to help people.”
Wurster grew up in Lake Forest, the youngest of four daughters with a Polish mother and Polish-Irish father. The family later moved to Waukegan.
After graduating from Waukegan High School, Wurster worked as a legal secretary for a Waukegan judge before getting married, Moran said.
Wurster and her husband, the late Richard Gerard Wurster, met after high school as members of the Young Christian Workers chapter at Immaculate Conception Church in Waukegan. The two married in 1960 and had seven children, six of whom still live in the Chicago area, her son Patrick Wurster said. They were married for more than 40 years.
“We’re a very tight-knit family,” Patrick Wurster said. “My mother was mother to all. She was in pretty much everything you could think of. She was tireless. I don’t know how she did it, I am in total amazement and awe when I think of all the things my mother did every week.”
Betty Wurster’s children also include Michael, Gerard, James, Carol Sabo and Therese Frawley. She had 10 grandchildren — Justin, Catherine, Patrick, Kelli, Morgan, Jack, Chase, Penny, Lauren and Nathan — and one great-grandchild, Sydney Anne.
Visitation will be 3 to 9 p.m. today at the Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner St. in Des Plaines. Funeral services will begin 9:15 a.m. Monday at the funeral home, proceeding to Our Lady of Ransom Church, 8300 N. Greenwood in Niles for a Mass at 10 a.m. Interment will be private.