Anne Christensen

Anne V. Christensen, age 91, formerly of Plato Center, passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 6, 2016.

She was born to parents Hans and Clara (Schueli) Schudel, who immigrated to the United States in 1923 from Beggingen, Switzerland. They welcomed home Anne on November 7, 1924, in Elgin, but she grew up in Udina where her parents worked the Craven Farm.

Anne went to a one room school house, Udina East, where she learned English well enough that she taught her parents and younger sister Maddie. The family grew to include Alexander and Alfred and John.

Anne loved to read and learn at school and was a proud graduate from Plato High School in 1942. It was there that a certain boy winked at her in homeroom, but Ken Christensen would have to wait until she turned 16 to ask her on a date. Following graduation, Anne took classes at Ellis Business College, after which she found work as a bookkeeper at Pearsall Butter Company.

Anne and Ken exchanged vows of holy matrimony on February 17, 1946 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Elgin, where her parents were founding members.

Following a whirlwind ten day road trip to the Smokey Mountains, Anne and Ken returned to Elgin where Ken worked at Triple E Farm and Anne began her education of being the “ultimate farm wife”. Cooking hearty meals and tasty desserts to feed a growing family plus any hired hand took much of her time, though you could often see her mowing large expanses of lawn with ease. When her boys weren’t available, you could count on Anne to climb behind the wheel of large grain truck. Outside of the kitchen, Anne was an accomplished seamstress; a talent passed down from her mother, and could sew anything from clothing and draperies to hemming quilts and more. Leave it to Anne to have a green thumb as well, tending her large garden that helped fill out her pantry and fill up the house with delicious smells of wonderful meals, pies and pastries. Her “free time” was spent scrapbooking, at last count, 80 different scrapbooks and she collected over 200 bells.

Anne was a dedicated, faithful and alongside Ken, active members of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, North Plato, where she tirelessly volunteered countless hours, taught Sunday School, held various offices in the Ladies Aid and sang in the church choir. She also was an “Ag In The Classroom” volunteer for the Kane County Farm Bureau where she served on the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee for many years.

Anne always impressed on her children the importance of education, spending every evening helping anyone and everyone with their homework. Academics came first, but supporting her children’s athletics came in a close second as she suffered nerves through each game in her childrens basketball and baseball careers. There was never another woman more dedicated to her family, community and church than Anne. Her legacy will live on in the work ethic and steadfast determination that she instilled in her children, and later grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She is survived by three children: Carol Eileen (Vincent) Frey, David Kenneth (Debra) Christensen and Dana Alan (Elizabeth) Christensen; Seven grandchildren: Jeffrey (Regina) Olson and their children, Mia, Joseph, Michael and Jonathan; Laura A. Olson, James V. Frey, Kenneth E. (Ashley) Christensen, Erica L. (Joshua) Williams and their daughter Lillian; Alexander J. Christensen and Adam C. Christensen; one brother John Schudel; five sisters-in-law; one brother-in-law, many nieces, nephews and a countryside of friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Hans and Clara Schudel; the love of her life, Ken, three siblings: Madeline Aldis, Alexander Schudel and Alfred Ernest Schudel, and two nephews.

Visitation will be from 10-11:30 a.m., Monday, April 11, 2016, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 43W301 Plank Rd., Hampshire. A funeral service to celebrate her faith will follow visitation at 11:30 a.m. Rev. Gerhard Mau, pastor of the church, will officiate with interment to follow at Udina Cemetery, located at the corner of Plank Rd. and Rt. 20.

The family kindly requests that no flowers be sent in her memory. A memorial has been established in Anne’s name to benefit St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and the Alzheimer’s Association. Checks may be made to either “St. Peter’s Lutheran Church” or “Alzheimer’s Association” and mailed in care of P.O. Box 66, Elburn, 60119. Tributes may also be forwarded to the same address, the Conley Funeral Home Facebook Page or read her full life story at www.conleycare.com.
The family would like to sincerely thank the staff at Autumn Leaves of Oswego.

A funeral service to celebrate her faith will follow visitation at 11:30 a.m. Rev. Gerhard Mau, pastor of the church, will officiate with interment to follow at Udina Cemetery, located at the corner of Plank Rd. and Rt. 20.

Visitation will be from 10-11:30 a.m., Monday, April 11, 2016, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 43W301 Plank Rd., Hampshire.