Aleeta Mae Hislop

Aleeta Mae Hislop (née Saffran), 87 years old, born and raised on the East Side of Chicago, and recently of North Carolina, went to be with her Lord and Savior on December 19, 2022, just two and a half weeks before her 88th birthday.

Aleeta was born on January 5, 1935, to Otto Albert Saffran and Violetta Mae Saffran (née Griffin) in Chicago, Illinois. Being born during the Great Depression and losing her father at an early age shaped Aleeta’s formative years and was a driving force in how she lived her life.

After graduating from Bowen High School in South Chicago in 1953, she married David William Hislop and devoted her life to her growing family. She always said that she prayed for a big family, after awaiting the birth of her only sibling, who came along when Aleeta was nine. So, over the years, Aleeta had six children, one boy and five girls (in that order).

Aleeta was no stranger to hardship. When Aleeta’s financial resources were very low, she worked even harder to provide food and shelter for her family, at one point moving back in with her mother on the East Side. What a blessing that was for both of them as Aleeta had the help she needed and her mother was able to share her faith with her grandchildren. During those lean years, the East Side Bible Church became the center of the family’s life, with Aleeta taking her six children to church almost always three times a week (Wednesday night prayer meeting, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening).

Aleeta held varying jobs throughout the years, including Marshall Fields in downtown Chicago and later Kieffer Engineering, all in an effort to continue to support her family. Eventually when all her six children went off to college, she sold her house on the East Side and moved to Durham, North Carolina. There she worked for several other companies, including Martin Marietta until she retired and moved briefly to Nebraska to live with her youngest daughter. Ultimately, she moved back to North Carolina where she remained for most of the rest of her life.

Early in her life, Aleeta acquired amazing sewing skills and would labor late into the night making clothes for herself (ever fashionable) and her children. With five girls, she worked hard to keep up with the demand for matching dresses for Christmas and Easter. It seemed her sewing machine was never silent. She also smocked many of those dresses- her smocking skills were unrivaled. For Christmas in 1969, the family had tickets to attend the Nutcracker Ballet performance at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. That year, despite having a 2-month-old baby, Aleeta made an extra effort to select just the right fabrics and designs for Christmas dresses for each of the girls ranging in age from 2 months to 11 years old, with her son leading the pack wearing his own selection of very “mod” clothing at age 13. The dresses were made of beautiful red velvet and a white dotted Swiss with red berries.

Aleeta was also an amazing cook, having learned from her mother. She often made delicious meals for the family, magically transforming a pound of ground beef into a meal for eight people! She didn’t always succeed with her cooking though, and her split pea soup (aka “green concrete”) was legendary. The entire family still laughs about that.

Her love of sewing was only matched by her love of dancing, chocolate and ice cream. She often reminisced about the old days when her father would take her to Bendenelli’s Ice Cream Parlor on the East Side to get a hot fudge sundae. Later, when Bendenelli’s closed, she took her children to Gayety’s in South Chicago for the hot fudge sundaes (with an extra cup of hot fudge on the side, of course).

Aleeta will be interred with her mother and next to her father in Mount Hope Cemetery at 11500 South Fairfield Avenue, Chicago. The family will be celebrating her life with a graveside service in the Spring followed by a trip to Gayety’s in Lansing.

Aleeta was preceded in death by her father and mother as well as her former husband. She is survived by her sister, Coral Gleason (Gary), her son, Mark David Hislop (Amparo), and her five daughters, Karen Lynn Davila (Eloy, Jr.), Cheryl Lee Rabin (Sid), Kristen Lou Villarreal (Michael), Kimberly Lois Kubitz (James), and Karyl Anne Noonan (Anthony). Aleeta was also blessed to with seventeen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren all of whom survived her, including grandchildren Christopher Mark Hislop (Courtney), Brandon David Hislop, Kari Lynn Kravish (Jason), Krista Leanne Shoufer, Joshua Michael Roddy (Juliya), Tara Esther Graff, Keaten Richard Terry, Kasey Cooper Terry, Kurt Noel Terry, Katarina “Nina” Louise Terry, Anna Karyl Kubitz, Evan James Kubitz, Leah Mae Kubitz, Maxwell Anthony Noonan, Alayna Kimberly Noonan, Lydia Patricia Noonan, and Daniel Patrick Noonan; and great grandchildren Ethan Christopher Hislop, Cole Mark Hislop, Jennavieve Natalie Roddy, Jianna Alexandra Roddy, and Christopher Brandon Hislop.

As Aleeta’s faith was central to her life, the family requests donations in her honor be made to the East Side Bible Church, 10524 S. Avenue N, Chicago, Illinois 60617.