Ann Thayer remembered as always close to her restaurant, her family

Ann Thayer, soup maker for Joliet and even some of the 1985 Super Bowl Bears, spent some of her last hours running her restaurant from a hospital bed.

"Even at the end, she went out the way she lived. She did it her way," said son Rick Thayer, who with his mother ran Thayer Bros. Deli & Grille and will keep running it.

“It’s going to be the same as it has been – the soup,” Rick said. “Nothing’s going to change except she won’t be here, which is a big change.”

Ann Thayer died Wednesday at the age of 85.

Rick and his brother Tom, former player and current broadcaster for the Chicago Bears, talked about their mother Thursday at the restaurant she loved.

“The restaurant is a lot like being at home,” Tom said. “The restaurant for my mom was about feeding everybody in Joliet. At home, she did the same thing for the family.”

The Thayer brothers were joined by cousin Britt Florin of Joliet, who said Ann was surrounded by family when she died late Wednesday afternoon at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center.

In that last week at the hospital, where she was treated for pulmonary problems, Ann seemed to be thinking more about the restaurant than about herself, Britt said. Told she should rest when out of the hospital, Ann said she’d be back at the restaurant.

“She was making phone calls to the restaurant telling them what to buy,” Britt said. “She was giving us recipes when she was in the hospital.”

The restaurant, at 753 Ruby St. for 22 years, has been in Joliet at three locations since the late 1980s.

Britt and the Thayer brothers said they will continue the large gatherings with which Ann brought the family together every Sunday.

During Tom’s years as an offensive lineman for the Bears, including the 1985 Superbowl season, those gatherings were tailgate parties at Soldier Field. Many of the players would join them, and some had special requests. For Walter Payton, Ann made pasta salad.

Ann’s last day at the restaurant was Oct. 23.

She went to the hospital after going home and developing breathing problems, Rick said. She didn’t want to leave the restaurant that night.

“I said, ‘Go home and rest,’ ” Rick said. “She said, ‘I don’t want to go home. I’m visiting with people at my tables.’ ”

The family is making plans for services later in November.