Adela F. (Moellering) HENGST

HENGST, MOELLERING, HAMLIN, MCFALL, BAGDONAS, CLEMENS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/21/2006 at 00:50:14

[Nee: Moellering]

Chicago Tribune
March 29, 2002

Adela F. Hengst, 87, of Barrington, former owner of office supply stores in southern Illinois, died Friday, March 22, in Hill Top Center in Lake Bluff. Born and raised on a farm in Rowan, Iowa, Mrs. Hengst graduated from Rowan Consolidated High School in 1932. She was the basketball captain and led the team to become state champions in 1931 and 1932. After high school she moved to Chicago, attended secretarial school and worked as a secretary for Montgomery Ward & Co. "It gave her pleasure to be efficient. She prided herself on that," her daughter Marilyn Hamlin said. Mrs. Hengst and her husband, Albert, married in 1934 in Chicago. In 1946 the family moved to West Frankfort, Ill., and a few years later the couple established A.C. Hengst Office Equipment Store in Benton, followed by another store in 1967 in Mt. Vernon. While helping manage the stores, Mrs. Hengst ran the household, baking bread every Saturday morning, canning fruit preserves, and sewing suits and evening gowns for her daughters. "She took delight in helping others," her daughter said. After her husband's death, Mrs. Hengst sold the stores and moved to Barrington in 1979. From the early 1990s until the time of her death she served on the board for Hill Top Center, a nursing home for Christian Scientists in Lake Bluff. Other survivors include two more daughters, Janice Bagdonas and Carol McFall; a sister, Jeanette Clemens; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. A service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in the First Church of Christ, Scientist, 421 E. Main St., Barrington.