Chester Gorlen

Chester E. Gorlen, 84, a 55 year resident of North Riverside, died September 15 in the Burgess Square Nursing Home, Westmont.
Mr. Gorlen worked as a cable assembler at Western Electric, Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero, before retiring. He also worked part-time in the auto department at Sears, Oak Brook.
Mr. Gorlen and his wife Anna, were original parish members at Mater Christi Church when the church was formed in 1953. Mr. Gorlen was an usher at Mater Christi and a member of the parish’s Holy Name Society. He also belonged to the Telephone Pioneers of America, the Sears Retirement Club and the In-Between Club.
Mr. Gorlen grew up in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood where his father Stanley owned a grocery store at 28th Street and Kolin Avenue. He attended Farragut High School and served in the U.S. Marines during World War II where he was stationed stateside and in the South Pacific.
His hobbies include rose and vegetable gardening, traveling across the United States, golfing with friends, working with tools and eating Home Run Inn pizza.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Anna; two sons, Keith (Carol Weisner) and Gary Gorlen; his daughter Mary Ann (Jim) O’Connell and three grandchildren, Gregory, Adrienne and Dan Gorlen.
Memorial donations can be made to Mater Christi Church 2431 S. 10th Ave. North Riverside, IL 60546 or American Diabetes Association 30 North Michigan Ave., Ste. 2015, Chicago, IL 60602, www.diabetes.org/honor.