Elsie Jean "Jeannie" Konicki, nee Watson, 79, formerly of Hinsdale, passed away June 22, 2023, in Oswego.
Jeannie's career started in retail, and at a young age was a store manager at W.T. Grant & Co. She and husband Les were entrepreneurs in Indianapolis for many years. She managed a reservation center for one of the major airlines. In addition, with her faith being strong, she was an operations manager of a church and always held active roles within the church community.
Jeannie and Les enjoyed traveling, raising horses, bird watching and watching football, whether in San Diego, Florida or the Chicago area. Because of her love of sports, for many years she was a scorekeeper and statistician for many basketball (Indiana Pacers) and football teams. She was a good golfer and enjoyed being out on the course to enjoy nature and spending time with friends. She was an avid Mah Jongg player and strongly pursued the game with her neighborhood friends. Book clubs were one of Jeannie's passions in addition to writing.
Jeannie's long-term friends were like family to her. She was always on the go with them and loved to travel and explore new places at an impressive clip.
Jeannie is survived by her sister, Roberta Schultz; her two stepbrothers, Ray (Carol) and Jimmy (Mary) Thomas; her daughter-in-law, Lorie Konicki; her grandchildren, Courtney, Kellen and Alex Konicki and Brianna Shaner; her three nieces, Kim (Sonny) Shaw, Tracy Schultz and Mary (Michael) Ellsworth; her three nephews, Michael, James and Christopher (Kristina) Climer; and her great-grandchildren, great-nieces and great-nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Leslie Konicki; and her brother, William Eugene "Gene" Climer.
Visitation is at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 29, at Sullivan Funeral Home, 60 S. Grant St., Hinsdale. A funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. at the funeral home.
Internment is at Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook.
Memorials may be made online to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America at http://www.lcfamerica.org.
Sullivan Funeral Home in Hinsdale handled the arrangements.
