Gary Sage

 
Gary Sage, 67, of rural Thomasboro died at 8:36 a.m. Wednesday, December 27, 2023, at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, January 3, 2024, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Flatville with Rev. Scott Smith officiating. Burial will follow in Beckman Cemetery, Rantoul.  

Visitation will be from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 2, in Diers Hall, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Flatville.  Baier Family Funeral Services, Flatville is handling arrangements.

Gary was born December 20, 1956, in Champaign the son of Merle K. and Sylvia Albers Sage.  He married Susan Day Swain.  She survives.

Along with his wife, Susan, he is survived by three sons, Ryan (Angie) Sage of Thomasboro, Chad Sage of Vass, NC; Tyler Sage of Oswego; his mother, Sylvia Sage of Thomasboro; seven grandchildren, Carmen, Haley, Henry, Sophie, Adrian, Avery and Mason; three brothers, Perry (Marcia) Sage, Danny (Sheri) Sage, Troy (Maria) Sage; one niece, Stacey; four nephews, Spencer, Brad, Trent, Clayton and several great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father.

Gary graduated from Rantoul Twp. High School in 1975 and was an Honor Roll Student throughout his school years.  He attended Parkland College.  Gary farmed for the past 57 years and his love for farming began when he helped his Opa Sage with cattle.

He was a life-long member of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Flatville and had served on the church council.  He also served on the Farm Service Committee.  He was a member of the Illinois Tractor Pulling Association and the 2019 Points Champion.  Gary was very involved with the I & I Antique Tractor Club and the Half Century of Progress Show.

Gary enjoyed restoring trucks and pedal tractors.  He looked forward to working in his shop and visiting with friends.  His family was the love of his life.

Gary received a heart and kidney transplant in 2017.  The family would like to pay tribute to his donor for giving him over six wonderful years with his family.  They would also like to pay tribute to his brother, Troy, for donating his kidney which also enabled Gary to live a longer life.

Memorials may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Flatville or I & I Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Club.  Condolences and memories can be shared with the family at www.baierfuneralservices.com

Alan M. Carroll

 

URBANA - Alan M. Carroll died unexpectedly the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, at his home in Urbana. He was 60.

Alan was born Jan. 24, 1963, in Baltimore to Arthur and Majorie Carroll. The family moved to St. Joseph, where Alan and his brothers grew up. Alan married Susan Hinrichs in 1989. They have three children.

Growing up, the Carroll boys were very active, delivering newspapers, making candles in the backyard and being a center of energy for the neighborhood. Alan was involved in many activities in high school, including marching band, Scholastic Bowl and the underground newspaper. 

Alan referred to himself as a "code slinger." He started programming as a teenager for his father's touchscreen company. He was involved in programming and gaming on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois.

After graduating high school, Alan studied computer science at the UI, eventually earning a Ph.D. He loved teaching and was a teaching assistant for the computer-architecture and systems-programming course in the computer-science department for many semesters. Throughout his career, he taught and mentored many people. His Ph.D. research was on collaboration systems. As part of this work, his team developed the first multiple-window Emacs system called Epoch. 

Alan worked on a variety of projects throughout his career, including network-security management at Cisco Systems and internet proxy work at Yahoo and LinkedIn. He was a significant contributor to the Apache Traffic Server project and a member of the Apache Software Foundation. 

Alan was very active in his kids' lives, photographing park district soccer games, helping with Boy Scouts, being Mr. Science for Vacation Bible School, and helping kids create and launch rockets. As his kids moved away, he would have online gaming nights with them. 

Although he spent most of his life in Illinois, Alan was a person of the world both through travel and by collaborating with people all over the world. While growing up, his family spent many Christmas holidays driving down to Mexico and playing on the Mexican Pacific coast. In graduate school, he spent one summer working in Tokyo. He traveled to Europe several times with the family, visiting the north coast of Scotland, London, Ireland and Germany. He traveled to Beijing for a Traffic Server conference.

In addition to his life in Illinois, Alan bought a ranch in the mountains of New Mexico with his brother, Craig. Alan and Susan frequently traveled to the ranch to enjoy the mountains, trees and nature.

Alan is survived by his wife, Susan; his children, Corwin Carroll, Charles Carroll and Alice Carroll; his mother, Marjorie Carroll; his brothers, Bruce Carroll (Holly Tuccio), Dean (Julie) Carroll and Craig (Linda) Carroll; and his nieces and nephews, Ashlyn Carroll, Bryson Carroll, Dawson Carroll, Nick Tuccio, Ronin Carroll and Aya Carroll. 

He was preceded in death by his father, Arthur Carroll. 

A funeral service followed by a celebration of Alan's life is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 2101 S. Prospect Ave., Champaign. 

Alan was very concerned about constitutional rights and avoiding abuse of power. For a memorial, please consider a donation to the Institute for Justice or a similar organization.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/news-gazette/name/alan-carroll-obituary?id=53947471

Gebka Sage

 
Gebka Sage, 102 of Oakwood our beloved mother and grandma was called to Heavenly glory  on Wednesday December 21, 2023 at 11:56 A.M. at Goldwater Care in Danville.

 Mother was born to John and Grace (Freiden) Ehmen in Stanton Twp. She was baptized into Christ and later confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran in Flatville.

 She married George Sage at Immanuel Lutheran in Flatville. He preceded her in death on April 3, 1992.

 She is survived by daughters Carol (Cliff) Peak, Helen Green and grandson Jeff Green. Her son-in-law Bill Green preceded her in death as well as brothers Menne, Chester, Henry and Bill and sister Anna Mennenga.

 Mom and dad were farmers their entire life. Mom worked fields along with dad as well as being a super cook and skilled seamstress.

 We give thanks to God for our loving parents, always there to discipline, help, encourage and guide us. Her life is a blessing and memory to treasure, and will be missed beyond measure.

 Funeral services will be at 2:00 P.M. Tuesday December 26, 2023 at St. John Lutheran Church, Royal. Pastor Emil Blobaum will officiate. Burial will be St. John Lutheran Cemetery, Royal. Visitation will be from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. at the church.

Memorials may be made to St. John Lutheran Church or Cemetery. 

Freese FH 12/22/2023

Polly Baker

 ST. JOSEPH - Polly Baker was born Feb. 4, 1952, to J. Osborne and Mildred E. (Hussey) Baker, in Ossining, N.Y.

She attended St. Augustines grade school and graduated from Briarcliff Manor High School. She received a B.S. degree in pyschology from Cornell University. She held an M.S. degree in education from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Illinois University.

Polly was on the faculty of the School of Informatics at Indiana University (IUPUI), where she was director of the Media Arts and Science program. She also directed the Visualization and Interactive Spaces Lab, part of the Pervasive Technology Institute at Indiana University. She greatly enjoyed working with Indianapolis school children in an after-school program teaching coding with robotics.

Before moving to Indianapolis, Polly was the director of visualization and virtual environments at the National Center for SuperComputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of illinois. She also co-authored several computer-graphics books.

After retirement, Polly split her time between Indianapolis and St. Joseph, enjoying the best of what city and rural life have to offer. While in St. Joe, she enjoyed baking, gardening, sewing and walks around Homer Lake. When in Indianapolis, she enjoyed the museums, the zoo, football and walks around the downtwon area. She participated in the Indy Mini and the Monumental Marathon for at least the last 10 years. She was a member of ava.org and achieved centurion status twice, walking 100 sanctioned walks in one year.

She is survived by five brothers, Bob, Bill, Thom, Mike and Tim, and one sister, Peggy. She was preceded in death by her parents and one brother, Jim.

There will be no service. She will be cremated and her ashes scattered by her siblings at a later date.

Published by The News-Gazette on Dec. 22, 2023.

Phyllis Place Koski

 Urbana - Phyllis Place Koski, 98, of Urbana, passed away Saturday morning, December 16. 2023.

Graveside services will be at 2:30pm, Wednesday, December 20, at G.A.R. Cemetery,
Homer, IL.
Phyllis Place Koski was born April 26, 1925, Sidney, IL, the youngest of 9 to Chester "Chet"
and DeEtta Place. Phyllis grew up on the family farm between Sidney and Homer and after
graduating Homer High School, started her career with the Army Corp of Engineers, where
she retired, along with working at Quaker Oats, both in Chicago. Her adult life was spent
living in Wheaton after marrying Marvin Koski in 1965; he proceeded her in death October
2018.
Phyllis is survived by many nieces and nephews as she was called "Aunt Phyllis" by many
having been an aunt, great aunt, great-great aunt and great-great-great aunt.
She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings.
Special thanks to our caregivers for the wonderful care they gave to Aunt Phyllis allowing
her to remain at home while making her transition as comfortable as possible.

Freese Funeral Home 12/18/2023 https://www.freesefh.com/notices/Phyllis-Koski

Norma L. Vineyard

 
Norma L. Vineyard, 96, passed away on December 1, 2023 at Peoria, IL.

Norma was born on October 4th 1927 in Hartford, Illinois to Hugh and Erma (Farmer) Manahan. After graduating from East Alton-Wood River High School, she earned a degree in secretarial science from Shurtleff College in Alton.

On March 19th, 1949, she married her high school sweetheart, Marvin L. Vineyard.

She worked as a secretary in the offices of the University of Illinois as Marvin earned degrees in agriculture. Norma then began her career as a homemaker and mother, a role she truly loved. She dedicated her life to her family.

Norma carried a love of music throughout her life, playing the piano into her 90’s.

She especially enjoyed playing traditional hymns. She played for her family, her church, and was a volunteer pianist for the Hammond-Henry Long Term Care Center.

Her favorite activities included playing games, reading books, and working on puzzles with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was also a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and enjoyed watching University of Illinois basketball and football games.

Norma was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and her brother, Paul Manahan.

She is survived by her three children, Laura (Terry) Machetti of Peoria, IL;

Martha (Arnold) Taube of Wichita, KS and David (Linda) Vineyard of Kenosha, WI.

In addition, she is survived by five grandchildren: Katie (Dylan) Hagen, Kristen (Mark) Shekleton, Erik (Carrie) Taube, Tracie (Luke) Arens, and Hannah Vineyard.

She has thirteen great grandchildren: Landon, Molly, Shane, Hudson, Joshua, Mitchell, Fletcher, Andrew, Eliza, Ellianne, Shepherd, Brooke, and Brooklyn.

Funeral services will be held at Freese Funeral Home at Sidney, Illinois at 10 am, Monday December 11th, 2023 with burial in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Sidney IL. Visitation will be from 9 to 10 AM Monday at the funeral home.  Norma appreciated the Women’s Fellowship of Sidney Christian Church who faithfully remembered her with cards. Memorials may be sent to them at Sidney Christian Church, 205 E. Main Street, Sidney, IL 61877, or a charity of the donor’s choice.

https://www.freesefh.com/obituary/Norma-Vineyard

Albert N. Hacker

 SIDNEY, IL-  Albert N. Hacker, 88, of Sidney, IL, passed away at 5:02 PM, Sunday, December 10, 2023 at Country Health Care & Rehab in Gifford, IL.

There will be no public services.  Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, 1900 S. Philo Rd., Urbana, is assisting the family with cremation for Albert.

Albert was born on September 27, 1935 in Urbana, a son of Lawrence and Helen(Wingler) Hacker.  He married Bobbe Weeks on October 3, 1975 in Urbana.  She survives.  Also surviving is a son, David Hacker  and three step-children, Mike, Brian and Cheryl Krutsinger.  Also surviving are three grandchildren, Nate, Amber and Taylor, and three step-grandchildren, McKenzie, Briana and Alyssa, and a brother, Jim Hacker.

Albert was preceded in death by his parents, a daughter, Suzie, a son, Greg, and five siblings, Marge, Janet, George, June and Donnie.

Albert worked as a Union carpenter for Local 44 for many years.  He enjoyed the outdoors and was a life long hunter and fisherman. He relished his grandkids and enjoyed going to all their sporting events.

Condolences may be offered at www.renner-wikoffchapel.com

https://www.renner-wikoffchapel.com/obituary/Albert-Hacker

Dorothy Dottie Parke

 

Dorothy "Dottie" Parke, 85 of St. Joseph passed away at 4:13 P.M. Saturday December 9, 2023 at her home.

 A Celebration of Life visitation for Dottie will be held from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday December 19, 2023 at Freese Funeral Home 302 E. Grand Ave. St. Joseph.

 Dottie was born August 27, 1938 in Nashville, TN. The daughter of Leonard Earl and Ula Irene (Bloodworth) Arbuckle.

 She is survived by her son Brian (Karina) Parke of Covington, IN. Sister Rhonda (Greg) Hughes of Bismark, 3 grandchildren; Dr. Jacob Parke, Meaghen (Eddie Wells) Hale, Addy (Jason) Bowman, great-granddaughter Emma Hale, niece Debbie (Fred) Smith, nephew Tony Hughes and great niece Hailey Smith.

 She was preceded in death by her parents and sister Joan McDougal.

 Dottie worked in banking in the area at Palmer Bank, First national Bank Westville, and Lakeshore Bank, Danville.

 She enjoyed shopping and collecting items.  She especially enjoyed playing dominos and going out to eat on Friday's with her friends; Shirley, Nancy, Bonnie, Sue, Diane, Lois, Carol, Kate, Cherie, Paula and Alta.

Freese FH 12/12/2023

Lou Ann Carper

 Lou Ann Carper, 70 of Champaign passed away at 6:33 P.M. Friday December 8, 2023 at her home.

 Funeral services will be at 12:00 P.M. Saturday December 16, 2023 at Freese Funeral Home 302 E. Grand Ave. St. Joseph. Burial will be in Mt. Olive Cemetery, Mayview. Visitation will be from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. at the funeral home.

 Lou Ann was born April 11, 1953 in Decatur. The daughter of Elmer and Mary Ann (Dellert) Woodard.

 She is survived by her children Cathy (Kevin) Wingler of Urbana, Brian (Tarah) Carper of Mahomet. Mother Mary Ann Woodard of St. joseph. Five grandchildren Katherine (Patrick) Carlin, Cody Carper, Dylan (Anna) Carper, Benjamin Carper and Taelyn Bach. Brothers George (Dena Strong) Woodard, Bob (Kathy) Woodard both of St. Joseph. Her dear friend Bob McMahon.

 She was preceded in death by her father.

 Lou Ann loved to fish with her grandsons. She spent a large part of her life taking care of other people.

 She enjoyed cooking and baking, her Wednesday morning breakfast club, going on motorcycle rides with her son in law. Most of all she loved spending time with her family and Bob.

Freese FH 12/12/2023

Darrell E. Cox

 
Darrell E. Cox, 85, of Urbana passed away peacefully, Wednesday November 22, 2023, at Bridle Brook Assisted Living in Mahomet. He was born August 25, 1938, in Effingham, the son of Wiley and Mary (Quick) Cox. In 1965, he married Carol Devore, and she preceded him in death in 2005. A daughter, Jennifer Marie, also preceded him in death in 1984.

Darrell is survived by three daughters: Cynthia Coleman (Gabe) of Urbana, Stacey Plotner (Tony) of Chapin, SC and Debra Ward (Michael) of Edwardsville, IL; four granddaughters: Marielle, Faith, Emma, and Alexandra; and two grandsons: Tanner and Weston.  

Darrell graduated from the University of Illinois with a PhD in Botany and worked at the University of Illinois bookstore for 37 years. His research focus was mycology, and he spent much of his free time foraging, photographing, and eating mushrooms, especially the illusive morel. He was a two-time Grand Champion of the Illinois State Morel Hunting Championship and an expert beekeeper, gardener, and conservationist. He was a consummate bowler and even bowled a perfect game. You would hardly ever see him without a camera dangling from his neck as he photographed every significant and mundane event in his children’s lives. His greatest pride and joy were his daughters (his little bears) and his grandchildren, and he was their ultimate supporter.

Funeral services will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday December 2 at Renner-Wikoff Chapel & Crematory with visitation an hour before service time. Burial will be at Mt. Olive Cemetery, Mayview.

Condolences may be offered at www.renner-wikoffchapel.com