Betty Kolich, 78, raised 15 kids; neighborhood called her mom

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Betty Kolich (center), with her husband, Albert, and 14 of their 15 children.

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Updated: November 16, 2011 1:26AM

Betty Kolich presided over a household that would have made many other parents beg for mercy — or at least, a break.

Her 15 children marvel at how she got tasty food on the table and kept the kitchen stocked with a weekly inventory of 30 loaves of bread and 20 gallons of milk. She washed five loads of daily laundry; purchased Christmas presents for every member of her extended family; and still managed to serve on the board of Elgin School District U-46.

She never lost an inherent kindness that made other youngsters in Streamwood call her “Mama Kolich.”

“The whole neighborhood called her mom,” said her daughter, Christina Satterlee. Even with 15 hungry offspring at the table, she often set out an extra plate for other kids who clamored for her spaghetti or pepper steak.

In a 1984 interview about her children, she told the Sun-Times that “if one of them comes up and hugs me — which they do — then I realize it’s really not all that hectic.”

Mrs. Kolich died Wednesday at Sherman Hospital in Elgin at age 78.

Mrs. Kolich had all the characteristics of an effective executive, her children say: discipline and organization, and the ability to multitask and do strategic planning.

Those qualities made her the queen of her local TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) weight-loss group. Only 4-foot-10, Mrs. Kolich gained about 50 pounds with each pregnancy — or a lifetime total of 750 pounds. Fierce determination helped her lose it all again after the birth of each baby.

With 2.5 bathrooms, she used to have the kids break into two groups for showers — one set who took them in the morning, and another set who cleaned themselves up at night.

Grocery shopping was done with the precision and care usually reserved for a military exercise.

“That woman had everything down when it was on sale,” said her son Ken. “She could scour the papers and clip coupons. Milk and bread was [purchased on] one day, because she had to get 15 to 20 gallons of milk a week, and probably 30 loaves of bread. She would shop at Sara Lee because the bread was a day old. . . . Meat was [purchased] another day.”

With a husband who got paid once a month, she trained herself to accurately estimate her check-out bills. “She would have everything written to the penny,” said her daughter Barbara Brzeczek.

Once, Brzeczek said, “We had gone through the line and it was two cents over...they had to rerun everything and she was right. The two cents meant a lot. That two cents was a jar of baby food.”

For church, “She would have all the girls line up” to have their hair fluffed out, Brzeczek said. “She couldn’t afford rollers for all of us. She would put all of our hair in pin curls.”

Mrs. Kolich was born Elizabeth Whalen in Kansas City, Kan., where she met and married Albert, a Mobil oil analyst. They settled in Streamwood after he was transferred to Illinois.

They always said they wanted a baker’s dozen of kids. Mrs. Kolich was 44 when her youngest, Judy, was born. Judy was younger than three of Mrs. Kolich’s grandchildren.

The children knew she meant business when she pointed a finger and told them: “Knock it off.”

Once, she went toe-to-toe with a police officer who came out to the house and wrote a noise citation when she threw a graduation party for Ken. (It couldn’t be helped, Ken said — with family, friends and neighbors, there were easily 100 people there.)

But when the officer said his citation would identify her as a “housewife,” she pointed that finger and declared: “Don’t you dare put that down.”

“I’m a domestic engineer,” Mrs. Kolich said.

She enjoyed playing the slots at the Grand Victoria casino, and she liked watching Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri on the Food Network.

She and Albert prayed the rosary together every day.

“He said yesterday, ‘This is the time I’d say the rosary with mom,’” Christina said. “She had her chair that she sat in, and he would kneel next to her.”

Other survivors include her daughters Helen Metz, Michelle Holland, Theresa Wahl, Elizabeth Mahoney, Jacqueline Rome, Cynthia Kolich, Louise Holte and Judith Kwasniewski; and her sons, Albert Jr., Lawrence, Joseph and Gregory.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Countryside Funeral Home and Crematory, 95 S. Gilbert St., South Elgin. Her funeral mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Thomas More Church, Elgin.