Antoinette Josephine Marie Holzrichter

May 20, 1925 - June 1, 2022

Antoinette 'Toni' Holzrichter passed away peacefully in her sleep at home in Elburn, IL, on the morning of June 1, 2022, after a slow decline in her health over the last eight months while in home hospice care. She was 97 years young.

Toni was born in Carroll, IA, on May 20, 1925. She was named after her father, Anton Joseph Wegman, who passed away four months prior to her birth.

When Toni was four, her mother, Marie Wegman (Eilers), married Clem Dust, and the family moved to a farm in Milford, IA. Toni remembered fondly her Aunt Sally (Eilers) and Uncle Vic DeMuth taking her to dance at the Roof Garden in nearby Lake Okoboji.

After Toni completed her Catholic school education through the tenth grade at St. Joseph's school in Milford in 1941, she moved to the Chicago area to live with family friends to complete her high school education at St. Patrick's Academy in Des Plaines, IL, in 1943. Her sisters later joined her.

After studying dietary science at Iowa State College (now University) in Ames for two years, she returned to Chicago to live and work. She loved city life! That is where she met her husband, Bill, at a dance, of course. Bill, a nationally ranked table tennis player, invited Toni to watch him play in a table tennis tournament, and the rest is history. They married on June 9, 1951, and moved to the Western Suburbs, first St. Charles, then Geneva, and later Elburn , where Bill started his agribusiness, Farm Distributing Company, which he owned and operated for 50 years.

Toni and Bill enjoyed their life together. They were avid ballroom dancers and bridge players. As members of the Loyal Order of the Moose, they frequented dances at the local Moose Lodge, and as members of the American Contract Bridge League, they regularly attended bridge games in the Fox Valley area. The couple also made a point of getting together on a consistent basis with friends and family, and enjoyed traveling throughout the states as well as in Europe and on cruises.

Toni also was very health conscious. She made sure she and her family had healthy meals, and she would follow a regular exercise routine, in addition to her dancing. As for her spiritual well-being, Toni regularly attended St. Gall Catholic Church in Elburn, IL.

Toni enjoyed children and loved raising her own kids. She also was thoughtful toward her kids' friends and her many nieces and nephews, who have expressed their appreciation for the cards she remembered to send them at every birthday, with a dollar bill or two tucked inside.

Toni also cherished her time as a regular caregiver to her grandchildren, Mitch and Alyssa, when they were young. She often would reminisce about how that was among the favorite times of her life.

Toni always was a hard worker, earning and saving money where she could so her children could enjoy their interests. She waited tables and even did the piano teacher’s laundry in exchange for lessons. She also returned to school and earned an associate’s degree in word processing from Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, IL, and employed her new skills at Curtiss Breeding Service in Elburn, IL, in the 1970s.

Toni is survived by her children, Scott Holzrichter of Chicago, Doug (Elaine Blank) Holzrichter of Geneva, IL, and Linda Holzrichter of Elburn, IL; her grandchildren, Mitchell (Carolyn Grunst) Holzrichter of Chicago and Alyssa (Jeffrey) Hayden (Holzrichter) of Chicago; her great grandchildren, Eloise, Wyatt and Jude Hayden, and Ryan Holzrichter, all of Chicago; her sister, Irma (Art Reiser) Dust of Spirit Lake, IA; and her brother, Cecil (MaryAnn Troutman) Dust of Ellisville, MO. She was preceded in death by her husband, William 'Bill' Holzrichter; her father, Anton Wegman; her mother, Marie (Anton) Wegman (Clem) Dust (Eilers); her stepfather, Clem Dust; her brothers, Orville 'Dusty' (Rachel Deibner) Wegman and Myron Wegman; and her sisters, Corlyne (Robert) Chappell (Dust) and Margaret (Anthony) Turrisi (Dust).

Toni will be missed. We are fortunate that she touched our lives, and we will carry her memory and inspiration with us always.

Following Toni’s wishes, there will be no public service, only an intimate graveside burial of her ashes at Oak Hill Cemetery in Geneva, IL, at some later date with her immediate family. However, if anyone would care to make a donation in her memory, please consider her local parish, St. Gall Catholic Church in Elburn, IL, or Kindred Hospice, which provided her with outstanding palliative care.