Theresa Mary Blazic Semel

BLAZIC

Posted By: michael (email)
Date: 10/9/2003 at 16:50:34

Theresa Mary Blazic Semel, of 331 South Summit Street, Iowa City, died on Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at home of cancer. Theresa was born in Toledo, Ohio, the daughter of Frank and Florence Blazic. She married Jay Semel on September 3, 1967, in Toledo.

Services will be at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service in Iowa City on Saturday, October 11 at 2:00 p.m. Burial will be at Oakland Cemetery. A reception will be held at the Semel family home following the service. The family also will receive friends on Sunday, October 12 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the family home.

On-line condolences can be sent to the family by visiting www.lensingfuneral.com and clicking on the obituaries/condolences link. Bequests may be made in Theresa’s honor to the charity of one’s choice or to Hospice of Iowa City, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, or the National Wildlife Federation.

Theresa graduated from St. Ursula Academy, Toledo, received a B.A. in English from the University of Toledo, an M.A. in English from the University of Delaware, and a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1981.

Theresa had been the Director of Test Security for ACT in Iowa City since 1988. Before that, she was a contracts analyst with Westinghouse (now Pearson), and practiced law in Iowa City and the Quad Cities. She taught literature and writing at Newberry College, the University of South Carolina, and the State University of New York at Geneseo.

Theresa loved spending time with her family and friends, gardening, reading, and traveling. She was a runner and a walker and practiced yoga. She acted in community theater. She served as a volunteer for Hospice of Iowa City, Hancher Guild, and cuddled new babies in distress at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics.

Theresa is survived by her husband, Jay Semel; her daughter, Diana Allen and her husband Nick, and grandchildren Sophie and Bennett of Cary, North Carolina; her son, David and his friend Amelia Szasz of San Francisco; her brother, David Blazic and his wife Joyce of Gibsonburg, Ohio; her sisters, Rita Tansey and her husband Pat of Toledo, Ohio, and Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Micek and her husband Bruce of Gahanna, Ohio; and many nieces and nephews. Her parents died earlier.