Susan Elaine Zick

On Sunday, March 12, 2023, Susan Elaine Zick, loving wife, mother and grandmother (Grammie), passed away after a long struggle with frontal lobe dementia.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Bertha Voorhees, and her brother John, of Springfield, Illinois. She is survived by her brother Bruce, her sister Martha (Schou), her husband Alford, her sons Craig and Jeff, and her granddaughters Alexis and Brennan.

Born in Springfield, Illinois, she attended Springfield High School and was a member of the Cheerleading squad. She married Alford E. Zick Jr., of Springfield, in 1964. They relocated to Decatur, Illinois in 1964 and then to Barrington, Illinois in 1985, finally settling in Barrington Hills in 1990.

Susan dedicated her life to philanthropic endeavors, volunteering her time, and talents prolifically. She managed, and was the buyer for the gift shop at St. Mary’s hospital in Decatur, as well as running the hospital’s “Candy Striper'' corps, all without pay. At Decatur’s “Junior Welfare” organization, she held multiple board positions, over the years, and worked/volunteered tirelessly to Produce/oversee fund raising events, plays, musicals, and the yearly Decatur “Fun Fair” at Fairview Park.

She was the driving/”sweat equity” force behind the creation, rehabilitation/construction and management of “The Carriage House” community educational arts program/facility for children and adults, located in the Carriage House, at the Millikin homestead in Decatur. She was a PTA member, consummate “Room Mom”, and active member at Grace United Methodist Church, (and later became a member of the Presbyterian Church of Barrington).

She was an active P.E.O., serving as her chapter’s President and then treasurer, for years, and she helped to create and manage the P.E.O. Illinois “Home Fund”, which provides funding for P.E.O.’s in need of financial housing assistance. She was an active “Questers” member, Levy Restaurant Group “Mystery/Secret shopper”, Barrington Area Garden Club member, Chicago Union League Club member, and was a financial supporter of the Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, St. Joseph’s Catholic school in Harvard, Illinois, Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, Illinois, and Barrington’s “Journey Care” hospice/palliative care center.

Al and Susan were members of the Barrington Hills Country Club and the University of Illinois I-Fund program. On November 29th, 2016, she was honored by the University of Illinois, and it’s Athletic Department, on the Basketball Court during the first University of Illinois home men’s basketball game in the newly renovated State Farm Center. This inauguration day tribute was not only for her decades of financial support, but specifically for her generous financial contribution to the University’s renovation of the former Assembly Hall.

She will be missed. In lieu of flowers, please donate your time and/or funds to the Presbyterian Church of Barrington, or any of the aforementioned groups/organizations that Susan cared so deeply about.

Visitation will be Friday, March 17, 2023, from 3 PM until the funeral service at 6:30 PM at Davenport Family Funeral Home and Crematory, 149 W. Main Street (Lake-Cook Rd) Barrington, IL 60010.

A second visitation and funeral will be held on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 10 until the funeral service at 12 Noon at Bisch Funeral Home, 505 East Allen St., Springfield, IL 62703.

Interment to follow at Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Springfield, IL.