Jean Elizabeth Carlson Daly, 93, of Champaign, IL, passed away Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Born on the far south side of Chicago, August 1, 1928, to Carl Ernst Carlson, a podiatrist, and Elizabeth Marie Huber, a teacher, both of Chicago, Jean graduated from St. Catherine of Genoa grammar school in 1941 and from Mercy High School in 1945. She worked for the United States Air Force during World War II, and took some evening courses in the downtown location of Northwestern University.
She married William James Daly, also of Chicago, November 28, 1946. After many years in the city, where sons William (Diane), John (Barbara), and Timothy (Kay) were born, Jean and Bill migrated to the southwestern suburb of Dolton, IL, where daughter Carla (Rob Zych) was born. The couple moved to Champaign in 1969 and in 1972 founded Daly Business Services, a bookkeeping and tax consulting firm, where all of their children and two daughters-in-law worked in various capacities and for various periods of time until its closure soon after the death of Jean’s husband in 1983.
All four children married and became parents themselves, bringing Daly grandsons Eric, Chris, Carl, Brian, and James into the world as well as Zych grandchildren Crystal and Noah. In recent years, Jean was blessed with great-grandchildren Tycho, Liam, Cyrus, and Evelyn.
Jean developed especially close relationships with her daughters-in-law and son-in-law. She not only carried that gift for creating loving bonds into the next generation of spouses and significant others, but also extended it to the siblings of her children-in-law. Additionally, Jean doted on a host of beloved nieces and nephews, their children, and their grandchildren.
Jean worked in the business office at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and was employed from 1986 until 1997 as an assistant to two professors in the Geology department at the University of Illinois. Throughout her time at the university and following her retirement, she continued her volunteer work at St. Patrick’s.
Jean was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brother Michael, and sons William Jr and John.
The visitation will be on Sunday, November 21 from 3:30-5:30 pm with a parish wake service beginning at 3:15, at Owens Funeral Home, 101 N. Elm St, Champaign. Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, November 22 at 10 am at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 708 W. Main St, Urbana. Fr. Anthony Co and Fr. George Remm will officiate. Burial will immediately follow at Woodlawn Cemetery, Urbana.
Donations to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church or the Saint Vincent de Paul Society are welcome, as are flowers.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Jean Daly, please visit our floral store.