WOW (Widows or Widowers) was founded by Dolores Bonfield Cortis in May, 1975. Dolores was widowed at the young age of 38. She joined Parents Without Partners in the area where she resided. The group was made up of recently divorced people. Being a grieving widow with young children who also were dealing with their sorrow, is not the same as a divorced parent.

Through Parents without Partners, she met other newly widowed men and women. They formed the first WOW group in the Western Suburbs. It is a place to go for understanding, companionship, and to participate in social activates with like individuals. The idea was and is that Step we need to take to get back to living a normal life without the one we loved. To give us the understanding that although we are now widowed, we can resume life with all others and feel accepted as a new person.

After 43 years, we now have a membership of over 185 members. Our membership has gone up and down over the years for a variety of reasons death or members that have moved to retirement areas around the country. But we have remained consistent in our zeal to prosper, and we have 43 years to prove that!

We publish a monthly News Letter that lists our social activities and support meetings. WOW continues to offer support, friendship, education and social activities to the widowed people in the western suburbs of Chicago. A monthly Social Gathering is held at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 537 South York Road, In Elmhurst, IL. At 7:00 pm on the third Thursday of each month. Feel free to join us at our monthly meeting. We welcome guests of all ages!

For additional information, check out our website at (www.wow.cfsites.org) or contact Dave Spero, WOW President at (630-620-4060).