Betty Stuglik
February 28, 1923 — November 8, 2016
Betty Jane Stuglik, age 93 years of Niles, Michigan died peacefully at 3:16 p.m. on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 with her family gathered around at Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac, Michigan following a brief illness.
She was born on February 28, 1923 in Niles to Horace Thurman and Flossie Cornelia (Davis) Freeze. She attended Niles Community Schools, and has lived in Niles all of her life. As a young woman, she was employed at the Bonnie Doon Drive-in, in the 70’s at the Smorgasbord Cafeteria in Bell Plaza, and more recently had been employed at the Niles Taco Bell.
Betty was a devout Catholic, attending Mass weekly most of her life. She was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother, helping her husband with the family farm and keeping the home pleasant and inviting with the fragrances of stir-fry, chop suey, and pecan pies.
On August 2, 1941 in South Bend, Indiana she married Joseph A. Stuglik with whom she celebrated the fifty-seventh anniversary of their wedding prior to his death on July 18, 1999. She was also preceded in death by two sons, Daniel Thomas Stuglik on March 4, 1997 and Paul M. Stuglik on October 6, 2015; and a brother, Horace Freeze and his wife, Barbara.
Surviving family includes her children, LuAnne VanOrman of Lawrence, Michigan, Josephine Covyeou of Niles, Christina Marie Morse of Niles, Joseph J. (& Sharon) Stuglik of DeFuniak Springs, Florida, and James Anthony Stuglik of Niles; a daughter-in-law, Patti (Mrs. Paul) Stuglik of Niles; fourteen grandchildren, twenty-four great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Theresa Stypczynski of Mishawaka, Indiana.
The Mass of Christian Burial for Betty Stuglik will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at Saint Mary Catholic Church in Niles by the Rev. Christian Johnston of the parish. Committal Rites will follow at Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery in South Bend.
The family will receive relatives and friends from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Monday at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home in Niles.