Obit: Merlak, Johana (1880 - 1973)

Contact: Ken Wood
Email: woodi1999@yahoo.com

Surnames: Merlak, Koopman, Makovec, Kosic, Bushman, Nagle, Previl, Gary

----Sources: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Thursday Sept. 20, 1973

Merlak, Johnan (11 Nov. 1880 - 19 Sept. 1973)

Greenwood--Rites will be conducted at 1 p.m. Friday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenwood for Mrs. Frank Merlak, 92, of Greenwood, who died at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Neillsville Memorial Home.

Offciating will be the Rev. Leander A. Koopman, pastor and burial will be in the parish cemetery.

Friends may call after 2 p.m. today (Thursday) at the Rinka Funeral Home in Loyal, where a general rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. tonight.

The former Johana Makovec was born Nov. 11, 1880, in Yugoslavia, and came to the United States in 1898, settling in Waukegan, Ill. Her marriage in August of 1905 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waukegan, Ill., was to Frank Merlak, who preceded her in death Oct. 23, 1961.

In 1905, they moved to DeKalb, Ill., where they continued to reside until 1918. They then moved to the Greenwood area, where they began farming. In 1958, she moved to the city of Greenwood, where she lived until making her residence in the Neillsville Memorial Home in 1965.

She was a charter member of the K.S.K.J. Club.

Survivors include three sons, Roy Merlak, Venice, Fla, Matt Merlak, Loyal, and Martin Merlak, Wonder Lake, Ill.; three daughters, Mrs. Frank (Tillie) Kosic and Mrs. Harry (Antonia) Bushman, both of Chicago, and Mrs. Phillip (Jennie) Nagle, Tucson, Ariz.; three stepdaughters; two sisters, Mrs. Josephine Previl, Waukegan, Ill., and Mrs. Louise Gary, North Chicago; 18 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a brother.