Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - May 31, 2002
Sam Eifling, Tribune staff reporter
She would begin before dawn in her Oak Park home, baking holiday baskets for HIV/AIDS patients.
People came in shifts, starting at 8 a.m., rolling dough until they got blisters, mixing, washing bowls, listening to Christmas carols.
Last year, the "Cookie Lady," as she was known, led about 60 volunteers in baking about 8,500 cookies, almost 7,000 of which were baked on one Saturday, her friends said.
Mrs. Funk, 56, died Tuesday, May 28, in Cook County Hospital of lung cancer that was diagnosed eight weeks ago.
The lifelong Oak Park resident married James Funk in 1964 and they had two daughters before divorcing in the early '80s.
Mrs. Funk ran a day-care operation in her home for 34 years and, in 1976, helped found the West Suburban Home Day Care Association, which supports and trains day-care providers. In the mid-'70s, she started the Oak Park-River Forest Hunger Task Force.
"Her whole life was about helping people," her daughter, Tracy Foronda, said.
Eight years ago, Mrs. Funk's brother Ron Tracy, who was dying of AIDS, asked her to bake 1,000 cookies for Community Response, which provides services to people in Chicago and the western suburbs who have HIV/AIDS.
Since then, the first Saturday in November was baking day. She would sling four trays of cookies at a time into her two ovens while neighbors baked in their homes. At midday, she would feed her helpers a pot of chili. At midnight, she would chase people out and clean up for another two hours.
"Cookies were always a thing she liked to bake, but when we had a cause, we really did it good," her daughter said.
Last year more than 420 patients got the cookies as part of a package that included small gifts and groceries. Many of the patients are poor and have been ostracized by their families, so the homemade cookies were a treat, said Erik Johnson, executive director of Community Response.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Funk is survived by her longtime companion Bennett Weaver; another daughter, Christine Fairbanks; her mother, Lorraine Phillips; a sister, Donna Gruenberg; and three grandchildren.
Visitation is scheduled for 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Dreschler Brown & Williams Funeral Home, 203 S. Marion St., Oak Park. Services are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the funeral home.
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