Jerome M. Strick

Hi. My name is Jerry Strick and I recently died.

This thing about writing your own obituary is not an original idea. Got to give props where they belong and that would be Art Buchwald, a humorist who wrote for the New York Times.

I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin February 1, 1930. Blessed with two great parents, Mary and Garfield. We were a middle-class family with enough money to own a home and see that I got a college education. Mom read books to me just about every day while I was eating lunch during my early grade school years. Dad was a diesel engineer (submarines, rock crushers, etc.) and taught me the importance of being honest and dependable, but I never picked up his mechanical skills. To this day I’m a “righty-tighty lefty-loosey” kind of guy.

Graduated from Marquette University (1953) with a degree in Journalism which got me a stint with the Army’s daily newspaper Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan while I spent two years in the Army. Made Sergeant and was proud of it. Don’t exactly know why but it made me feel like I was finally getting my act together.

Had the good fortune to become friends with Shel Silverstein who at the time was a cartoonist – and a mighty good one – for S & S. If the name doesn’t ring a bell think author (“The Giving Tree”) and songwriter (“A Boy Named Sue”).

After I got out of the service, I went to work for Continental Casualty Company (today CNA) in Chicago, New York City and Reading, Pennsylvania. That covered about 24 years and got me an Assistant VP title. Seemed like a big deal then; not so much now.

After that it was about nine years with Ryan Insurance which became Combined Insurance, now AON, and another four years in the physician consulting business.

Around 1955, while working for Continental came a watershed moment: Met Maria Luisa Patlan, a Hispanic beauty with a heart of gold who grew up in a migrant-farm-worker family of nine kids in Carrizo Springs, Texas. On November 23, 1957 Mary Lou and I got married. Undoubtedly the smartest thing I ever did.

The marriage lasted 63-plus years. It resulted in four children: Jeff, Mandi, Dan, and Mike. And then came nine grandchildren: Erica, Allie, Sydney, Emma, Nikki, Jack, Joey, Carly, and Ben. And finally, two great-grandchildren: Alex and Steven. Couldn’t be more proud of each.

In all honesty that is much more a tribute to their mother. It was like she was a natural in parenting and I was a rookie just learning as I go and making a lot of mistakes on the way.

It was Maria Luisa who noticed an invitation in the Joliet Herald News in 2006. They were looking for writers for the Common Sense column and she encouraged me to apply. For almost 2 years I wrote a weekly column on a subject matter of my choosing. It was a most enjoyable experience, despite the sour critiques from some readers.

On December 17, 2020 Maria Luisa Patlan Strick died. My death certificate lists a later date, but I feel as though my life ended on that December 17.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Lightways Hospice would be greatly appreciated.