Ethel G. Otto

Visitation for Ethel G. Otto, 101, formerly of Palatine, will be on Saturday, November 9, 2024, from 10:00 AM until the time of the Funeral Service at 11:00 AM at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Hwy, Palatine, IL. The Interment will follow at Palatine Hillside Cemetery, Palatine.

Ethel Gertrude Bongratz was born on March 9, 1923, in Chicago to Joseph and Elizabeth Bongratz, her birth was preceded by that of two brothers and followed by that of two younger sisters. She passed away on November 5, 2024.

Always a math whiz, she graduated from elementary school at 12 and Waller High School in Chicago at 16. Though she would have liked to go to college to study physics; this was the Depression. She took a job as a bookkeeper at a local poultry distributor, office upstairs and chickens' downstairs. She used some of her first earnings to buy herself a warm mouton fur coat against the bitter Chicago winter and the open street cars.

She met her future husband Harold Graves Otto while serving as a bridesmaid at her cousin’s wedding. They married in 1943 and were married for almost 60 years until his death in 2002. The birth of three daughters followed in 1947, 1950 and 1953 while they lived in apartment on Orchard Street on the Near North Side of Chicago—an old German neighborhood where most of their extended family lived.

In 1954 the family moved to Palatine to their dream house that they designed and had built. Ethel worked at Sellstrom Manufacturing in Palatine and was the first woman executive there where she rose from bookkeeper to controller. After her retirement she enjoyed travelling throughout the US, Hawaii, Scotland and Europe and to visit her eldest daughter in Egypt, playing golf, doing crafts, and spending time with her family in Illinois, Rhode Island and Colorado. Her daily walks around the grounds and pond of Fairfax Village in Rolling Meadows with her two dogs, first MacDuff and later Domino provided her with a great deal of pleasure and many friendships.

Ethel was the beloved wife of the late, Harold G. Otto; Survived by sister, Jeanne Brockway of Arlington Heights, IL, she is the loving mother of Susan Allen (James) of Providence RI, Bette Otto-Bliesner (Alan) of Boulder CO, Julianne Dannowitz (Bob) of Grant Park IL, her eight grandchildren are Michael Wells (Kim), Jessica Bliesner, Brian Bliesner (Louise), Robert Dannowitz, Amy Dannowitz, Laura Dannowitz (Andrew Bitner), Bryan Dannowitz (Carly), Heidi McCraw (Nick); 4 great-grandchildren, MacKenna Wells, Clara McCraw, Isaac McCraw and Maxwell Benson. She was preceded in death by her siblings, Wilber Bongratz, Joseph Bongratz, and Irene Stodolny.

Memorials may be made to Westwood, Assisted Living and Memory Care, 1485 Butterfield Trail, Kankakee IL 60901 or St. Paul United Church of Christ, 144 E. Palatine Rd, Palatine, IL 60067