Anne M. Kolavo Merrillville, IN – Anne (Stefanich) Kolavo, age 99, died peacefully and of natural causes, on May 31st, 2020 at Life Care Center of Rochester, IN. Anne was a fun loving and active lady who was loved by everyone who knew her. She was born April 2nd, 1921 in East Chicago, IN. She was a long time member of Holy Trinity Croatian Church in East Chicago, IN, where she was baptized, attended school for grades 1-8, and married to her husband Joe in June of 1941. Her father Peter died when she was 6 years old and her sister Petra was only 3 years old. Anne and Petra’s Uncle Bob, helped to support them all after their father’s death. Growing up during the Great Depression, Anne and Petra, who were very young, were asked to contribute to home life in many ways. From collecting coal that had fallen off train cars onto the railroad tracks to heat their home, to traveling on street cars to transport homemade wine to paying customers. Anne’s Mother, Mariana, married Joe Zic in 1928. Anne and Petra’s brother, Joe Zic, was born in 1930. Growing up together during such difficult times Anne, Petra and Joe were all very close throughout their entire lives.
Uncle Bob knew the Kolavo family, who owned a tavern in South Chicago. Being they were all of Croatian decent, they would have picnics and play bocce ball behind the tavern. Uncle Bob had a car with a “rumble seat”, and would take Anne as a teenager to the picnics. That is where she met her future husband Joe and his family, including his mother Celia. Joe never learned to drive a car so he would hire a taxi to drive him from South Chicago to East Chicago to pick up Anne for their dates. One of their first dates was to a boxing match and then dancing at the Trianon Ballroom in the Woodlawn area of Chicago. Joe and Anne married on June 16th, 1941, which was less than two years prior to Joe receiving his 10 day draft notice to report to an Air Force base near St. Louis MO. Joe served in London, England during WWII. Anne was pregnant with their oldest child, Barbara (Bobbie) when Joe left for England. When he returned home at the end of the war, he met his 3 year-old daughter for the first time. Joe and Anne had four more children, and lived a full and well-traveled 38 year life together in East Chicago right up to Joe’s passing in December of 1981 from complications from Emphysema. Joe and Anne would take their two youngest children on long driving vacations across the country. Anne did all of the driving of course, which earned her the affectionate nickname of “Leadfoot Annie”. They visited 40 states in their travels. Their second child JoAnne was a flight attendant for United Airlines. JoAnne’s career provided Joe and Anne the benefit of traveling to Hawaii 6 times as well as trips to Europe. In her later years, Anne was extremely vibrant and active. At 85 years old, Anne’s son Joe, took her along with two of her young grandchildren on a week long remote Canadian fishing trip. At 87 years old, Anne made her first of three trips to China with her daughters Bobbie and JoAnne. Anne was a Homemaker but also had many different jobs and careers throughout her long and busy life. In her early years she was a sales woman for JC Penney. She also made extra money cleaning offices and homes with her sister in-law and close lifelong friend, Betty Zic. She and Betty along with their two young sons delivered phone books for extra income. Anne would also drive the family station wagon to fruit orchards in Michigan and pick bushels of peaches, plums and apples with her husband Joe, her children and sometimes her mother in-law, Celia. Many of her East Chicago neighbors would place orders with her. She built her fruit picking business up to the point that a well know local farm stand called her to complain that she wasn’t “licensed” to sell fruit in the area. This practice earned her another nickname that stayed with her for her entire life, “Apple Annie”. She loved taking trips to the Michigan orchards. Her son, Joe and daughter in-law, Jennifer would take her cherry, peach and apple picking throughout the year. She was still picking apples at age 97. Her longest career was running the kitchen for Bingo and all other banquet hall events for American Legion Post 369 in Hammond IN. She would procure, deliver, and along with her team, which included her sister in-law, Betty, prepare food for hundreds of people each week for years to come. Anne loved to cook for Post 369 as well as her family. She was known for her specialties including her homemade gnocchi, stews, cold spinach and green bean salads, and baked goods including nut rolls and kolacky cookies which she made right up until her 97th Easter. Anne loved to garden. She took pride in both her flower gardens and vegetable garden, which her grandsons Joe and Jeremey built for her at her home in Merrillville. Her daughter Bobbie and granddaughter Tracy kept an annual custom for Mother’s day, of taking Anne to greenhouses to pick out flowers for her to plant in her garden each year. Anne was also an avid bingo player. She would attend bingo sometimes three times per week and made many lifelong friends at the different Bingo games that she attended. She also enjoyed visiting casinos. She was always ready at a moment’s notice to have Joe and Jennifer pick her up to take her to any local casino. Her last visit to a casino was less than a year ago when they took her to Four Winds in South Bend where she played slot machines while drinking a glass of wine late into the night. True to form, she was the “life of every party!”
We love you Mom and we will miss you forever.
Anne is preceded in death by her mother Mariana, father Peter, stepfather Joe Zic, brother Joe Zic, husband Joe, infant daughter Veronica and daughter JoAnne Brueggeman.
She is survived by her sister Petra (late Roman)Ostrowski, daughter Bobbie (Jim) Citta, son Joe (Jennifer) Kolavo, daughter Christine, grandchildren Tracy (Will) Shearer, Matthew (Ellen) Brueggeman, Katie (Kyle) Yargeau, Joe Kolavo, Rachel Kolavo, Jeremey (Francesca) Kolavo, and Chloe Sannito. Numerous great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.