We are saddened to share the passing of Lottie Matula (nee’ Maniszko), age 98 on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at her home in Chicago. Mother of Theodore (Ted) Matula, Professor of Rhetoric and Language and MA in Professional Communication; mother-in-law to Karin Cotterman, Interim Director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good.
A lifelong homemaker, wife and mother to 13 children, numerous grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, Lottie was active in her home community of the Southside of Chicago. She was a school volunteer for many years and a poll worker at the West Lawn Library. A practicing Catholic, her faith informed her values and how she lived in the world. In the early 1970s, when she lived with her family on 55th Avenue (also known as Garfield Boulevard) a Black teenage girl exited her bus in front of Lottie’s house. This was during a time of great racial tension in the city of Chicago. Recognizing that the child was in danger in the largely white neighborhood, Lottie invited her in to use the phone to call for a ride home. Meanwhile, neighbors gathered outside, escalating racial tensions. Lottie called Gage Park High School, where several of her teenage children were, and told them not to come home. She made sure the girl had a ride home and diffused the situation.
Practical due to disposition and circumstance, she told Ted and Karin that she would “rather give birth again than ever go back to the dentist,” when they called to celebrate the birth of their first child. She usually tried to avoid conflict, however, in a family split in the White Sox vs. Cubs debate, she favored the White Sox. She said that her secret to a long life was eating KitKats.
Lottie was the beloved wife of the late Edward and loving mother of Edward (Judy), late Christine, Thomas (Patti), Daniel (Alice), David (late Cathie), Linda, Sharon, Mary Anne (Mike Rzeminski), Barbara, Nancy, late Paul, Ted (Karin Cotterman) and Mark. Dearest grandmother and great grandmother of many.
Visitation Monday, January 26, 3:00-8:00 from Wolniak Funeral Home, 5700 S Pulaski Rd. Tuesday visitation at 8:00 am and Chapel Service at 10 am. Interment Resurrection Cemetery, Chicago.