Virginia “Kitchie” L Sirles Berghuis

Nov 4, 1939 to February 23, 2020

Kitchie passed away peacefully, in her sleep, in her home in Homer Glen, Illinois, with her family by her side. She was 80 years old.

Born in Chicago, to Edgar and Virginia Sirles, Kitchie spent her childhood years in her beloved city of Chicago on the north side in Lincoln Park. She had an older brother, Rick, and two younger sisters, Susan (Fidler), and Kelly (Gagliardo). All of her siblings and her parents preceded her in death.

Her father moved the family to Los Angeles in the early 1940’s, when Kitchie was a very young girl, with hopes of becoming a movie star. He met the actor, Walter Pidgeon, who told him Hollywood was not a great life for a family and convinced him to take his family and go back to Chicago, and so he did. One of Kitchie‘s fondest and earliest memories was when she was headed back to Chicago with her family on the train and she would dance for the WWII soldiers and they would give her money in her little skirt.

Originally named ‘Virginia‘, her father nicknamed her ‘Kitchie’ because she was always crawling into the kitchen as a baby. The name stuck, and she would always be known as ‘Kitchie’ by everyone who knew her. Her father moved the family into the southwest suburbs of Chicago in 1958.

While attending Austin high school in Chicago, in the late 1950s, she was on their cheerleading squad - an experience that provided her with some of her most cherished memories in life. After high school, she worked in the receiving department at Marshall Fields Department Store on State Street, downtown Chicago. She loved that job very much, especially because she was able to see all the beautiful dresses before they were placed out on the display floor.

She married the love of her life, Ronald Berghuis, on October 1, 1960, at the First Congregational Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois. They were married for almost 60 years. Their first meeting was precious. They were introduced, in 1958, by her older brother, Rick Sirles, at a soda shop on 95th street, in Oak Lawn, IL, called “The Lucky Horseshoe“. When her husband, Ron, first met her, he made fun of her first name, ‘KITCHIE’, and said to her, “Kitchie, Kitchie, catch me if you can!” She had that phrase engraved inside her husband‘s wedding band after she caught him and they were engaged on Christmas Eve, 1959.

In 1962, she gave birth to a son named Jeff, and three years after that, a daughter named Kerry. She adored her children and loved being a stay at home mom. Her children and her husband were her universe.

Kitchie loved traveling with her family, and dining out at many favorite establishments. She was a connoisseur of old movies and could tell you everything about the actors in every old flick. Kitchie enjoyed photography and she always had a camera with her wherever she went. She left behind easily over a thousand film photographs, mostly of family. She lovingly passed on that passion to her son and her daughter, who actually became a professional photographer in Northern California.

Kitchie loved dancing, and singing, especially to Doris Day records, and had a beautiful voice. She won a 1st place trophy in a jitterbug dance contest with her brother during her teenage years and was especially proud of that. Her love of the arts did not stop at dancing and singing. She was also quite crafty and a very talented gift wrapper. If you were lucky enough to receive a present from Kitchie, you would be enthralled by her beautiful wrapping.

She loved her city of Chicago, being a proud fourth generation Chicagoan, tracing her family roots back to before the great Chicago fire of 1871. She especially adored her father, Edgar Sirles, who was a very successful real estate broker and owner of Sirles & Son Realty in the south side of Chicago. The company was definitely a family affair. Her husband, Ron, also worked at the real estate office, in addition to her brother Rick, and her sister Susan.

She had a passion for conservative politics and would often write editorials that were published in the Chicago Tribune about many topics but mainly political ones. Anyone who knew her knew that she was extremely patriotic. She would never leave the house without her flag pin on her coat or blouse and her flag scarf around her neck. She would write on all of her correspondence underneath her return name and address, “God bless our troops, and our first responders“ - even on junk mail!

She was very generous and charitable and donated consistently to “Wounded Warriors” fund, among many others.

The adjectives that come to mind describing Kitchie were very loving, supportive, protective, giving, selfless, and very thoughtful. She was very creative, artistic, wise, and an animal lover with a great sense of humor and the absolute heart of her family and will be missed by so many, especially her close knit family.

We know she is now singing with the angels and probably Doris Day, too. May her beautiful spirit rest in peace. Kitchie’s wishes were for her ashes to be buried with her husband and her beloved Miniature Schnauzer, Heidi, and laid to rest in her husband‘s family plot in Fairmount Willow Hills Cemetery, Willow Springs, IL. She wanted the gravestone to read “Ron and Kitchie, a love story“.

Kitchie is survived by her husband Ron, her son Jeffrey, her daughter Kerry (Stewart) McGehee, three granddaughters, Lindsay (Ryan) Wolf, Chloe, McKenzie, and many nieces and nephews. May her memory be a blessing as she will always bring a smile to our faces and love to our hearts. Until we meet again, farewell our loving, precious Kitchie.

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