Irene M. (Wojtysiak "White") Pauwels

April 25, 1917 - Nov. 8, 2002

Irene M. Pauwels (nee Wojtysiak) of Holy Cross Care and Rehabilitation Center, formerly of Johnson Street, died at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, 2002.

She was preceded in death by her husband Gerard and three grandchildren: Daniel Pauwels, Jeffery Pauwels and Sarah Starczewski.

She is survived by seven children: Kenneth (Marie) Pauwels of Chapel Hill, N.C., Christine Pauwels of South Bend, Michael (Mary) Pauwels of Austin, Texas, Lawrence (Vicki) Pauwels of Mishawaka, Mary (Mike) Pauwels Abaray of Evansville, Ind., Catherine Pauwels of Stradtner of Jasper, Ind., and Leo (Teresa) Pauwels of South Bend, Ind. She is also survived by seventeen grandchildren; Amy Starczewski; Lucas, Lara, Monica, and Hugh Pauwels; Robert and Andrea Pauwels; Damon, Emily, and Noah Abaray; Meredith, Paige, Whitney, and Jordan Stradtner; Kathryn and Patrick Ball and Rachel Pauwels. She is also survived by three great-grandchildren: Andrew Pauwels, Justin Pauwels and Ethan Pauwels.

Irene graduated from South Bend Central High School and she attended Ivy Tech College in South Bend.

She was a lifelong member of St. Stanislaus Parish and was the director and teacher of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. She was a member of the Legion of Mary, the parish council, the Altar and Rosary Society, and she never missed a day of Mass. Irene was a neighborhood institution and everyone's grandma. She was a bright and capable homemaker, an avid reader, and the backyard bird's best friends.

She was adored by a neurotic poodle Max. She had kind words and cookies for every neighbor, a snack for the mailman, $2 for every missionary appeal, and a Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul bag every six months. She was a renowned cook who could make grown men cry for her breads and pies, but alas, she took the secret of her potato pancakes to her grave. She was the original recycler who could find more re-uses for plastic bags than the cleaners.

Her budget book was a Greenspan economic marvel. Gerard's paycheck was stretched tortuously to support a family of ten who knew no want and enjoyed all of life's goodness. Together Irene and Gerard reared a computer two registered nurses, telecommunications systems analyst, an electrical engineer, an English teacher, and a transportation manager. Better than that, her seven children learned that family is paramount and they should always love each other. Lovingly submitted by seven best friends, her children, the Pauwels family.

Article from 11 Nov 2002 The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN)

Sources: Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com and FindAGrave.com

06/20/2026 EJS

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68997512/irene-m-pauwels