Turkan Yesim Ilkdemirci, 54, of Hinsdale, died peacefully in her home on March 29, 2020, with her family by her side.
Turkan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1965 and immigrated to America to attend the University of Illinois at Chicago, earning a degree in Spanish.
Turkan was a lifelong artist and used art to display her creativity, passion and love of nature. She was often inspired to create beautiful collages and other mixed media works after hiking in Fullersburg woods, going on a sunny vacation or spending time with her art sisters. Her art was displayed in galleries in the Chicagoland area and sold at many art fairs, as well as her own Etsy shop, of which she was immensely proud. Her beautiful pieces now hang in many homes across America, a lasting reminder of her unique talent.
In addition to her love of art, she enjoyed jazz music. She could spend hours listening to fun swing beats involving saxophone and trumpet, two of her favorite instruments. Jazz music also served as inspiration in many of her art works. Turkan loved attending the Chicago Jazz Festival and was a donor to 90.9 WDCB.
Turkan was also an amazing mother and took great pride in raising and loving her three sons. She taught them to live life to the fullest and explore their passions, as she did with her art, and will forever remain a role model and source of strength for them.
She will be remembered for her generosity, exceptional strength, and enthusiasm for all she did.
She is survived by her three sons, Calvin, Casper and Sander Adriani; her boyfriend, Dave Berry; her mother, Mieke Swaving; and her sister, Sirin Ilkdemirci.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, April 11, at the Katherine Legge Memorial Lodge in Hinsdale. To attend, please call Casper Adriani at (630) 408-7960.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made online to Doctors Without Borders at https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm or the West Suburban Humane Society at https://www.wshs-dg.org/get-involved/donate.
