CYRILL GRASSER,
FARMER, ELECTRICIAN, INSTRUCTOR
Kindness was the keynote of Cyrill Grasser's life. A self-educated man, he helped educate others for better jobs, suported charities, bought his family's Wisconsin farm so his widowed sister-in-law would have a home, and on his deathbed,regained consciousness just long enough to say "remove the IV," sparing his family that agonizing decision. The longtime resident of Old Irving Park died Saturday in a Pineville, N.C. nursing home. He was 96. Mr. Grasser was born on a farm outside the hamlet of Porterfield,Wis., on land devastated by the great Peshtigo fire that swept through the forest and killed 1,182 people on the same day in 1871 that the Great Chicago Fire killed 250. When his father homesteaded there in 1902, he had to work around tree stumps 6 feet across that still remained from the fire. Mr. Grasser had an eighth-grade education plus one year in a farming school, and read voraciously all his life. At 18, he left the farm for Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to learn the electrician's trade. He bought technical books to further his understanding of the business and taught himself to maintain elevators and escalators.Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked him and three others to set up an elevator maintenance school. He taught there for several years. For the last 15 years of his career, he was chief electrician at the old Home Federal Savings & Loan building at Stae & Adams. He always maintained his love of his family's 80-acre farm. Not long after Mr. Grasser's wife died, his younger brother, who was running the farm, died. Mr. Grasser sold his own house so that he could buy the farm and put it in a trust. "He wanted to give his sister-in-law the last years of her life on the farm she loved so much" and not see her forced off the land, Mr. Grasser's son Allen said. "He had a purpose in later life - that farm," Allen Grasser said "Every chance he had, he wanted to go up there to try to restore the buildings, fix things." Mr. Grasser was in good health until a highway accident 2-1/2 years ago left him confined to a wheelchair. He lived at various times with two daughters and his son Allen until his last, brief illness. Other survivors include a son, Norman; daughters, Barbara Grasser and Virginia Stuhrenberg; 14 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 4 to 9 p.m. today at Meadows Funeral Home, 3615 Kirchoff Rd., Rolling Meadows. Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Colette Church, 3900 Meadows Dr., Rolling Meadows, with burial in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.
"Chicago Sun-Times" Newspaper - Chicago, Illinois - Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - Page #79
FARMER, ELECTRICIAN, INSTRUCTOR
Kindness was the keynote of Cyrill Grasser's life. A self-educated man, he helped educate others for better jobs, suported charities, bought his family's Wisconsin farm so his widowed sister-in-law would have a home, and on his deathbed,regained consciousness just long enough to say "remove the IV," sparing his family that agonizing decision. The longtime resident of Old Irving Park died Saturday in a Pineville, N.C. nursing home. He was 96. Mr. Grasser was born on a farm outside the hamlet of Porterfield,Wis., on land devastated by the great Peshtigo fire that swept through the forest and killed 1,182 people on the same day in 1871 that the Great Chicago Fire killed 250. When his father homesteaded there in 1902, he had to work around tree stumps 6 feet across that still remained from the fire. Mr. Grasser had an eighth-grade education plus one year in a farming school, and read voraciously all his life. At 18, he left the farm for Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to learn the electrician's trade. He bought technical books to further his understanding of the business and taught himself to maintain elevators and escalators.Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked him and three others to set up an elevator maintenance school. He taught there for several years. For the last 15 years of his career, he was chief electrician at the old Home Federal Savings & Loan building at Stae & Adams. He always maintained his love of his family's 80-acre farm. Not long after Mr. Grasser's wife died, his younger brother, who was running the farm, died. Mr. Grasser sold his own house so that he could buy the farm and put it in a trust. "He wanted to give his sister-in-law the last years of her life on the farm she loved so much" and not see her forced off the land, Mr. Grasser's son Allen said. "He had a purpose in later life - that farm," Allen Grasser said "Every chance he had, he wanted to go up there to try to restore the buildings, fix things." Mr. Grasser was in good health until a highway accident 2-1/2 years ago left him confined to a wheelchair. He lived at various times with two daughters and his son Allen until his last, brief illness. Other survivors include a son, Norman; daughters, Barbara Grasser and Virginia Stuhrenberg; 14 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 4 to 9 p.m. today at Meadows Funeral Home, 3615 Kirchoff Rd., Rolling Meadows. Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Colette Church, 3900 Meadows Dr., Rolling Meadows, with burial in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.
"Chicago Sun-Times" Newspaper - Chicago, Illinois - Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - Page #79
CYRILL GRASSER,
FARMER, ELECTRICIAN, INSTRUCTOR
Kindness was the keynote of Cyrill Grasser's life. A self-educated man, he helped educate others for better jobs, suported charities, bought his family's Wisconsin farm so his widowed sister-in-law would have a home, and on his deathbed,regained consciousness just long enough to say "remove the IV," sparing his family that agonizing decision. The longtime resident of Old Irving Park died Saturday in a Pineville, N.C. nursing home. He was 96. Mr. Grasser was born on a farm outside the hamlet of Porterfield,Wis., on land devastated by the great Peshtigo fire that swept through the forest and killed 1,182 people on the same day in 1871 that the Great Chicago Fire killed 250. When his father homesteaded there in 1902, he had to work around tree stumps 6 feet across that still remained from the fire. Mr. Grasser had an eighth-grade education plus one year in a farming school, and read voraciously all his life. At 18, he left the farm for Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to learn the electrician's trade. He bought technical books to further his understanding of the business and taught himself to maintain elevators and escalators.Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked him and three others to set up an elevator maintenance school. He taught there for several years. For the last 15 years of his career, he was chief electrician at the old Home Federal Savings & Loan building at Stae & Adams. He always maintained his love of his family's 80-acre farm. Not long after Mr. Grasser's wife died, his younger brother, who was running the farm, died. Mr. Grasser sold his own house so that he could buy the farm and put it in a trust. "He wanted to give his sister-in-law the last years of her life on the farm she loved so much" and not see her forced off the land, Mr. Grasser's son Allen said. "He had a purpose in later life - that farm," Allen Grasser said "Every chance he had, he wanted to go up there to try to restore the buildings, fix things." Mr. Grasser was in good health until a highway accident 2-1/2 years ago left him confined to a wheelchair. He lived at various times with two daughters and his son Allen until his last, brief illness. Other survivors include a son, Norman; daughters, Barbara Grasser and Virginia Stuhrenberg; 14 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 4 to 9 p.m. today at Meadows Funeral Home, 3615 Kirchoff Rd., Rolling Meadows. Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Colette Church, 3900 Meadows Dr., Rolling Meadows, with burial in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.
"Chicago Sun-Times" Newspaper - Chicago, Illinois - Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - Page #79
FARMER, ELECTRICIAN, INSTRUCTOR
Kindness was the keynote of Cyrill Grasser's life. A self-educated man, he helped educate others for better jobs, suported charities, bought his family's Wisconsin farm so his widowed sister-in-law would have a home, and on his deathbed,regained consciousness just long enough to say "remove the IV," sparing his family that agonizing decision. The longtime resident of Old Irving Park died Saturday in a Pineville, N.C. nursing home. He was 96. Mr. Grasser was born on a farm outside the hamlet of Porterfield,Wis., on land devastated by the great Peshtigo fire that swept through the forest and killed 1,182 people on the same day in 1871 that the Great Chicago Fire killed 250. When his father homesteaded there in 1902, he had to work around tree stumps 6 feet across that still remained from the fire. Mr. Grasser had an eighth-grade education plus one year in a farming school, and read voraciously all his life. At 18, he left the farm for Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to learn the electrician's trade. He bought technical books to further his understanding of the business and taught himself to maintain elevators and escalators.Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers asked him and three others to set up an elevator maintenance school. He taught there for several years. For the last 15 years of his career, he was chief electrician at the old Home Federal Savings & Loan building at Stae & Adams. He always maintained his love of his family's 80-acre farm. Not long after Mr. Grasser's wife died, his younger brother, who was running the farm, died. Mr. Grasser sold his own house so that he could buy the farm and put it in a trust. "He wanted to give his sister-in-law the last years of her life on the farm she loved so much" and not see her forced off the land, Mr. Grasser's son Allen said. "He had a purpose in later life - that farm," Allen Grasser said "Every chance he had, he wanted to go up there to try to restore the buildings, fix things." Mr. Grasser was in good health until a highway accident 2-1/2 years ago left him confined to a wheelchair. He lived at various times with two daughters and his son Allen until his last, brief illness. Other survivors include a son, Norman; daughters, Barbara Grasser and Virginia Stuhrenberg; 14 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Visitation will be 4 to 9 p.m. today at Meadows Funeral Home, 3615 Kirchoff Rd., Rolling Meadows. Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Colette Church, 3900 Meadows Dr., Rolling Meadows, with burial in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.
"Chicago Sun-Times" Newspaper - Chicago, Illinois - Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - Page #79
Family Members
Parents
Siblings
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Erna Margaret Helen Grasser Waldau
1898–1989
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Rev Raymond Michael Wilhelm Grasser
1900–1975
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Sylvia Maria Louisa Grasser Kearney
1903–1984
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Myron Stephen Paul Grasser
1907–1979
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Elmyra Emma Machdalena Grasser Johnson
1909–1972
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Leona Katherina Gertrude Grasser Pouliot
1911–1992
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1Lt Sylvanus Simon George "Paul" Grasser
1913–1944
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Everist Herman Guido Grasser
1917–1984
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