Funeral Details

Judith Mittler. Judith died peacefully, in her sleep, on October 6, 2016 at the age of 95. Born in Chicago, in 1920, to Pearl (nee Friedman) and Isadore Wilsker. Preceded in death by her husbands, Sidney Daskovsky who died in 1968, Sidney Mittler who passed away in 1988, and her son Mark (1954-2004). She is survived by her sister, Shirley Ruttenberg, her son David Daskovsky and daughter-in-law Sheila McCarthy Daskovsky and was a devoted and loving grandma to her grandchildren John (Amanda Masters), Madeline and Anna, and her great grandchildren Ardis and Jai Masters Daskovsky.

Judith was a force of nature: a strong, independent woman who had deeply held progressive and feminist convictions and a certain pride that she had rarely worked or voted for a winning candidate. She had a wide range of talents and was an accomplished pianist, printmaker, sculptor and seamstress and a pretty good ping- pong player as well. After her son Mark passed away, she took up his flute and learned to play it as a communion with him.

Though the Depression deprived her of the opportunity to go to college as a young woman, she went back to school in her 50s and earned both a BA and an MFA. Judith was a passionate reader who, in her later years, loved reading detective fiction, particularly those books "where someone dies in the first chapter." She also loved hockey and the Blackhawks, especially "when they throw down their gloves."

Judith also was a devoted friend. Her circle of women friends from the North Side Veterans Club were like her sisters for over 60 years. In recent years she loved to strike up conversations with people in line at the grocery store and anyone she encountered when she was out for a walk. She was proud of being a good neighbor and baked her peanut butter cookies for newcomers to her building.

Her feisty, funny, creative, generous, stubborn and loving spirit will be missed by her family and by all of those who knew her.

Memorial Service, Sunday 12 Noon at Chicago Jewish Funerals Skokie Chapel, 8851 Skokie Blvd (at Niles Center Rd.). Donations in her memory to her beloved North Branch of the Evanston Public Library www.epl.org. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com