Tacye Chiluski
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Tacye Gene Chiluski (nee Brown), 50, died on Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, after a courageous, seven-year battle with breast cancer.
She is survived by her husband of 28 years, Mark; son, Colin; daughter, Katherine; mother, Dolores (Speaks) Giger and Marvin Giger of Kouts, Ind.; father, Franklin G. (Sarah) Brown of Carrier Mills; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Bernard and Berdie Chiluski of Whiting, Ind.; maternal grandmother, Sibyl (Speaks) Gibbons of Harrisburg; sister, Misti (David) Labs of Gary, Ind.; two stepbrothers, Gene (Helen) Giger and James Murphy; three stepsisters, Pam (Ed) Klocek, Jan (Bob) Anderson and Cyndi (Duane) Johnson; brother-in-law, Howard (Cheryl) Chiluski; sister-in-law, Celeste (Lawrence) Rapchak; brother-in-law, Bernie (Angie) Chiluski; six nephews, David Miller, Brandon Miller, Richard Johnson, Bennett Chiluski and Austin Chiluski; four nieces, Ashley Chiluski, Angela Labs, Sarah Labs and Jessica Burnham; seven uncles, Joe Don (Myrna) Speaks of Evansville, Ind., Gregory (Nancy) Speaks of Harrisburg, Wilbur (Dorothy) Brown Jr. of Harrison, Mich., Richard (Becky) Brown of Fort Smith, Ark, Bill (Cathy) Brown of Carrier Mills, Bob (Leda) Brown of Herod and Jim Brown of Harrisburg; and 21 cousins, Terri Zoph, Adam Speaks, Joe Speaks, Ronald Brown, Reggie Brown, Steve Brown, Linda Rister, Jeremy Brown, Todd Brown, Cindy Dye, Julie Miller, Kathy Henken, Kellie Storment, Bo Brown, Cole Brown, Rita Sike, Delilia Watkins, Stephanie (nee Spirling), Bobby Brown, Natalie Miller and Mary Haney.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandfather, Joseph W. Speaks of Harrisburg; paternal grandfather, Wilbur Brown Sr. of Harrisburg; maternal grandmother, Nora Belle Brown of Harrisburg; uncle, Donald (Joanne) Brown of Rudement; and two cousins, Teresa Brown and Ryan Brown of Rudement.
Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, at the Baran Funeral Home, 1235 119th St., Whiting, and a Mass of Christian burial at 10 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church with the Rev. John Kalicky C.PP.S. officiating. Burial will be at St. John Cemetery in Hammond, Ind. Friends are invited for visitation with the family from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, at the funeral home.
A 1977 graduate of George Rogers Clark High School, Tacye was salutatorian of her class. She attended Purdue University in Lafayette and graduated summa cum laude.
A devoted mother, Tacye left her professional career to raise her children. Always willing to take on new challenges, she later made the transition to teaching by pursuing a teaching certificate at Calumet College of St. Joseph. Tacye taught middle school science at St. John the Baptist Catholic School and was especially proud of the school's science Olympiad team. She participated in the Mt. Carmel Mother's Club and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Tacye will always be known as an avid reader and gardener. She had many, many close friends. Among her greatest pleasures were family vacations to Orlando and the Florida Keys and weekend getaways to her lakefront cottage with the people she loved most. Tacye's love for genealogy led her to find that she was the paternal great-granddaughter of Anna Schimpf and the paternal great-great-granddaughter of Jacob Schimpf, who was responsible for bringing the ancestors over from Germany in the 1800s to settle in the area of Vergennes.
Those planning expressions of sympathy please consider the St. John Endowment Fund.