Before she became sick in February and had to be hospitalized, Frieda A. Antonides, 92, was baking a cake for a funeral luncheon at her church but discovered she made a mistake. She started a new batch, made the same mistake but sent the cake anyway, her family said.
“[While she was in the hospital] some of the ladies from the church sent get-well cards and in their cards they asked for the recipe because they thought the cake was so good,” said her daughter-in-law Beverly Antonides.
“And even though she made it wrong, she was such a good cook it was still delicious.”
Mrs. Antonides of Hinsdale, an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Burr Ridge, died Saturday, March 20, of cancer in the Plainfield home of her youngest son.
Born in Sugar Creek, Wis., one of 12 children, she moved with her family to North Dakota to work on a farm. Mrs. Antonides had to work odd jobs to support the family and was not able to complete high school. When work was scarce, the family moved to Chicago, where Mrs. Antonides found a job as a sales clerk at Carson Pirie Scott and Co.
To teach herself to sew, Mrs. Antonides would buy a dress then take it apart and resew the pieces together, said her daughter-in-law. She then took in sewing work from family and friends.
She married her first husband, Herman Born, and had three children while the couple lived in Chicago. One daughter, Eilene, died when she was 3 years old. Eight years later, in 1946, her husband died.
In April 1947, she married Edward Antonides, now deceased, a pharmacist who owned Antonides Pharmacy, near Midway Airport, which later became Midway Pharmacy. Mrs. Antonides delivered medicine and helped in the store even after she had her son, Alan, in 1950.
The couple built a home in Hinsdale in 1970 where she became active in the Ladies Aid Society and the Just Older Youngsters Club at Trinity. “She served at all the funerals, rummage sales, whatever it was. Whenever there was something, she didn’t have to be asked; she just showed up and worked,” said her daughter-in-law.
“Her church and her faith in God were very important to her. She had a direct line and nobody could shake that,” she said. “She had such a kind, generous disposition. There was no criticism ever from her. Everybody who knew her loved her.”
An independent woman right up until the end, Mrs. Antonides recently renewed her driver’s license, her son Alan said.
Other survivors include her oldest son, Robert Born; two brothers, William Schieve and Whitey Schieve; four sisters, Elsie Schultz, Martha Reiter, Eleanor Goering and Irene Schlemmer; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren
Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. Tuesday until the 10:30 a.m. service at Trinity, 11500 German Church Rd.
