University News
Mary Stipanowich Obituary
March 20, 2023
MACOMB, IL – Funeral services for retired Western Illinois University Instructor Mary Stipanowich, of Macomb, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 25, at First Christian Church in Macomb. She passed away Wednesday, March 15 in Macomb.
A visitation will be held from 4-6:30 p.m. Friday, March 24, at Dodsworth-Piper-Wallen Funeral Home in Macomb, and burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery.
Stipanowich served as acting dean of women at WIU on four occasions and later taught classes on food and nutrition in WIU's Home Economics department. She also hosted numerous events for WIU faculty and students. Her late husband, WIU Mathematics Chair Emeritus Joseph J. Stipanowich, who was also a longtime mathematics faculty member, preceded her in death in 2008. The couple both retired from teaching in 1981.
Mary and Joe had previously endowed scholarships for math and history students at Western, and donated numerous personal and professional documents to the University Archives. Mary was honored in 2009, as the longest-serving member of the University Women's organization.
She is survived by two sons, Tom and Jim; six grandchildren, Laura, Thomas, Jimmy, Amy, Nick and Sarah; and three great-grandchildren, CJ, Levi and Lucy.
Mary began taking classes at Western Illinois State Teacher's College in 1939, and received her bachelor's degree in Home Economics from Western in 1944.
Memorials may be made to the Joseph and Mary Stipanowich Mathematics Scholarship Fund, or the Joseph and Mary Stipanowich DAR History Scholarship Fund, both through the WIU Foundation, or to the Joseph and Mary Stipanowich Evangelism Fund at First Christian Church of Macomb.
For additional obituary information, visit dodsworthfh.com.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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