A life devoted to bettering Des Plaines
A 60-year Des Plaines resident, who helped pave the way for the Community Chest and United Way to meet social service needs in the community, has died.
Elizabeth "Betty" Wayman passed away on Monday in her Des Plaines home. She was 93.
Mrs. Wayman was a young war bride when she moved to Des Plaines in 1950 from Columbus, Ohio where she grew up and attended Ohio State University.
Her husband, Charles, survived 16 months in a German concentration camp. He returned after World War II ended to accept an editing job with U.S. Gypsum in Chicago.
The couple built their first home in a new subdivision in Des Plaines and within a year Mrs. Wayman joined the Newcomers Club to help welcome other new families to the area.
By 1951, she was the president of the organization, which worked to keep pace with the postwar population boom in the city.
"Her experience with the Newcomers Club served as a springboard," says her son, Tim, of Arlington Heights. "From there, she joined other community organizations."
Her husband served on the Des Plaines Elementary District 62 school board, eventually serving as president, while Mrs. Wayman worked in the trenches, volunteering with Boy Scouts and serving on the PTA.
She also was a member of the local PEO chapter, drawn to it, her son says, out of her interest in promoting educational opportunities for women.
"She was a wonderful friend and very hard working," says Betty Williams of Des Plaines, who volunteered alongside Mrs. Wayman. "She did so much for the city."
As her volunteering increased, Mrs. Wayman became aware of the increased needs of families in the community. She became involved with and eventually chairman of the Des Plaines Community Chest, which was the forerunner of the Des Plaines United Way.
"She felt very strongly about all the services it offered," her son says, "that together the United Way could offer more than individual agencies alone."
Tim Wayman suggests that his parents were active with other school board and United Way members, whose community activism was contagious. They worked together in everything from the historical society and school board to United Way and the First Congregational Church, and all with an eye toward building a stronger city.
"These were all very generous and community-conscious people," Tim Wayman says. "It opened my mother's eyes to the various opportunities in the city - and to the needs."
Mrs. Wayman was preceded in death by her husband, Charles. Besides her son, Tim and his wife, Connie, she is survived by son, Robert and his wife, Patti, as well as two grandchildren.
Visitation takes place from 4-9 p.m. Friday at G.L. Hills Funeral Home, 745 Graceland Ave. before a 10 a.m. Saturday funeral service at the First Congregational Church, 766 Graceland Ave., both in Des Plaines.