Elsy Maciak

Elsy Wattenhofer Maciak Born March 12, 1926, in Winterthur, Switzerland, Elsy was the only child of her parents. She spent her childhood in the small town she was born in near Zurich, Switzerland and was only 13 years old when World War II began. Elsy started high school in 1940 and spent 8 months in Geneva during 1942 becoming fluent in French. Upon her return, Elsy entered college at Tecknikum Winterthur to study international relations and foreign languages. It was during college that she met her future husband, a chemist, named George Maciak. George was one of many Polish soldiers interned in Switzerland due to Hitler's advances in Western Europe. Elsy and George were engaged in May of 1945 at the end of WWII. George became a research chemist at the Bally shoe factory in Schoenenwerd, Switzerland. Elsy took an office job at Bally, and did some modeling for the shoe company and some local shops in town. In June of 1950, Elsy and George emigrated to the United States and spent time in Massachusetts and Chicago before settling down in Indianapolis. A tip from a dear family friend, Norbert Neuss, led to George's employment at Eli Lilly as a chemist. Around the same time, Elsy gave birth to the couple's first son, Ralph, in 1952. Their second son, Ron, followed in 1956. In 1957, George and a family friend started Midwest Microlab. Elsy took care of the microlab's bookkeeping and records for many years. During the 1970s, Elsy began a new career at the tourist office in Flims, Switzerland. The seasonal job saw her living on 2 continents for more than 20 years. Winters and summers were spent working in the Swiss Alps while the off season was spent traveling US cities promoting the ski resort. Sadly, George passed away unexpectedly in 1983, but shortly after, Elsy was blessed with two grandchildren, Hilary and George Maciak. Elsy was a very active grandmother- "Grossi"- to her two grandchildren from son Ron and his wife Pam. She was very close to her grandchildren took many family ski vacations with Ron, Pam, Hilary and George. She continued to ski until she was 78 years old. Elsy was an accomplished seamstress sewing all of her own clothes until her death on December 12, 2014. Elsy is preceded in death by her parents and her husband, George. Survivors include son Ralph and wife, Jodie; son Ron and wife, Pam; grandchildren, Hilary and George; nephew, Przemek Lesniowski; and extended family members Tina Maas and Patricia Yingling. A memorial for Elsy will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, January 10th at the Forum at the Crossing, 8505 Woodfield Crossing Blvd, Indianapolis. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation at Cholangiocarcinoma.org. Arrangements by Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Center Broad Ripple, flannerbuchanan.com.