McHenry woman turns 108: ‘She brightens your day’

When Sylvia Klosowski married her husband Walter in 1984, she was 68 years old.

This week, the family she made with Walter gathered around her at Alden Terrace of McHenry to celebrate her 108th birthday.

“She brightens your day and makes everyone happy,” George Milauskas, one of the extended family members on hand for the celebration, said.

Sylvia and Walter had 20 years together before he died in June 2004 at age 90, and she lived independently in the couple’s McHenry home until she was 102, said her niece, Linda Klosowski of Carpentersville.

As one of the relatives who lived closest to Sylvia and Walter, she visited the couple often. She still stops in to see Sylvia once a week.

The family history gets complicated, however.

“Sylvia was married to a Walter, who passed away,” Linda Klosowski said. They never had children. Walter Klosowski’s first wife was also a Sylvia, she explained. They had three children together.

Both were widowed and lived in Chicago when they met, but moved to McHenry after they married to be closer to family, Linda Klosowski said.

The Northwest Herald also attended Sylvia Klosowski’s 105th birthday, and she talked about her life and memories, including going to the Century of Progress Exposition – Chicago’s second World’s Fair – that took place in 1933 and 1934. She worked in advertising for a time, where she did secretarial work.

While she wasn’t up to talking on Tuesday, her friends and family were. Sylvia told them stories over the years, like about the time she was voted “best legs” in her office, or the bowling trophies she won. Pat Mix has been Sylvia’s roommate at Alden Terrace for the past year.

“I have loved her from the beginning,” Mix said. Klosowski can be feisty at times, Mix said, sharing a story about her roommate flirting with the handsome caregivers at their home.

Pat Leinen, 85, of Woodstock, was Sylvia’s caregiver for a dozen years, coming in three times a week to help her remain at home.

Leinen remembers Sylvia being in the mood for corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. Leinen took her to Around the Clock Restaurant in Crystal Lake for an early birthday dinner. Hoping for a discount, Sylvia told the server it was her birthday, Leinen said.

“So everybody at the restaurant knows it her her birthday. There was a line of people there congratulating her. She played it up,” Leinen said.

The family has been hosting birthday celebrations with Sylvia every year since she turned 95, Linda Klosowski said.

“She said, ‘98, that is a big one.’ She didn’t know how much longer she was going to live,” and how many more birthday’s they’d have together, her niece said.

Staying in her life has a lot to do with who Sylvia is and what she meant to the family, Linda Klosowski said: “It is because of the awesome, sweet human being that she is.”

Sylvia also shared her party and a birthday with of Walter’s nieces, Annemarie McAloon. She turned 86.