Edith F. Bornhoeft Dies

Edith Fister (1910-1985), a sister of my grandmother Margaret (Fister) Hartley.  Image courtesy of Tom Cairns.

I didn't know Aunt Edith as well as I knew Aunt Fern, but I do have a memory of her as a health nut.  A search in Chicago newspapers in the late 1950s/early 1960s shows she was a regular participant with various week-end hikes associated with the volunteer organization Prairie Club of Chicago.

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
July 18, 1985
page 11 (Sports Final edition)
from GenealogyBank 

Services for Edith F. Bornhoeft, 75, a retired Atomic Energy Commission employee, will be held Friday in San Diego. 

Mrs. Bornhoeft, a former Western Springs resident, died Tuesday in a San Diego nursing home. 

She had been a technical employee of the commission at the University of Chicago and at Argonne National Laboratory near Batavia. 

She was active in the Prairie Club of Chicago and was a member of the San Diego Chapter of the Sons of Norway. Survivors include four sisters and a brother.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fern Evelyn Fister, 1907-2003

Fern Evelyn Fister (1907-2003), my grandmother Margaret (Fister) Hartley's sister.

Finally, a Fister that I knew!  She was my great aunt, although I just called her Aunt Fern.  She was one of the nicest people I've ever known, and always sent birthday and Christmas cards and a family newsletter (how I wish I had a copy now).

Me and Aunt Fern, circa 1980.  From my personal collection.

Her obituary doesn't say it, but she was a secretary for author Norman Maclean while they were at the University of Chicago (some time between 1940 and 1973):

San Diego Union-Tribune, The (GenealogyBank)
October 25, 2003
Edition: 1,2,6,7
Page: B-6:7 B-4 B-10:6 B-8:2 

FERN EVELYN FISTER
Dec. 4, 1907-Oct. 20, 2003 Fern Evelyn Fister, 95, of San Diego died Monday. She was born in Newark, Ill., and was an administrative assistant at the University of Chicago. She was a member of the American Association of University Women and the Pacific Beach Garden Club. 

She is survived by a sister, Doris Shulkin of San Diego. 

Services: 1:30 p.m. Monday, Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church, 1675 Garnet Ave., San Diego. 

Entombment: El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego. 

Donations: Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church, 1675 Garnet Ave., San Diego, CA 92109. 

Arrangements: Pacific Beach Chapel.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.