The father of a daughter with Down syndrome, Theodore E. Moravec, 77, was a devoted volunteer on behalf of the developmentally disabled in Palatine. A Palatine resident for 25 years, Mr. Moravec would help raise funds and organize events at Countryside Association for People with Disabilities in Palatine. “He would chaperon the dances and man the doors,” said his wife, Rita. Mr. Moravec died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Sunday, Jan. 18, in Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. Born in Glencoe, Minn., he graduated from Carlton High School in Carlton, Minn., in 1943. He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy’s B12 Officer Training Program at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, graduating in 1946 as an assistant paymaster with the rank of ensign. In 1947 he served as a supply officer on the destroyer USS Miles, part of an occupation force in the Pacific. Trained as an aeronautical engineer, he started with U.S. Fidelity and Guaranty Corp. as a safety inspector, where he met his wife, an auditor in the company’s Hartford, Conn., office. The couple married in 1950, with Mr. Moravec working for several different insurance companies before joining Allstate Insurance Co. in 1962. A district sales manager, Mr. Moravec worked for Allstate offices in Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. In 1968 he opened the company’s first branch in Northbrook. He retired from its office in South Barrington in 1993. Since then, Mr. Moravec did accounting work one day a week at his son Steve’s orthodontic practice in Plainfield, and also volunteered at Holy Family Catholic Church. In addition to his wife, son and daughter, Patty, survivors include another son, Ted Jr.; a brother, Terry; a sister, Marge; and four grandchildren. The funeral will begin at 9:15 a.m. Saturday in the Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 185 E. Northwest Highway, Palatine, and proceed to a 10 a.m. mass in Holy Family Catholic Church, 2515 W. Palatine Rd., Palatine.
