Genevieve Dahl Memorial Fund

My sister Suzanne Favors and I are raising funds to provide our mother with a proper Memorial celebration in the spring, to allow me to travel to the USA to help my sister sort through our mother’s belongings, and to defray the immediate costs of her obituary and wake. 

Mom, we miss you so much. 

There just aren’t any words to describe the feeling of losing your mother suddenly, half a world away, a few days before your birthday, during a pandemic. Of not being able to give her one last hug goodbye. Of not being there to help your overwhelmed sister with all of the necessary but unexpected and devastating arrangements and plethora of phone calls. Of needing to ask for a wake by Zoom because you can’t physically get Covid test results and get a flight before your dear mom will be cremated. 

My mother, Genevieve Dahl, was an amazing woman. This is the hardest story I will ever write, for two reasons. First, because there is so much to tell about her, and second, because of the self-reliance she cherished and instilled in both of her daughters. Asking for financial help is completely foreign but in this case unavoidable.

Genevieve Ann Dahl was born in 1943 to German immigrants Albert and Dorothy Litke, in Chicago, Illinois. She moved to Des Moines, Iowa as a young adult, to study Fine Arts and Design at Drake University. There, she met her first husband James Favors. Their marriage produced two daughters, Suzanne Antoinette and Diana Lynn. Gene was later married for 10 years to Michael J. Dahl.

Although she was unable to pursue a career in Design, Genevieve (Gene) used her artistic talents generously and creatively throughout her lifetime - making numerous banners and decorations for churches and schools, creating amazing theater and madrigal costumes out of recycled and unique materials, sewing and quilting blankets and clothing, as well as crocheting baby blankets and caps for charity donations to hospitals, right up to the end of her life.

Although she had a lifelong passionate love of music, she often joked that ‘the only instrument [she] ever learned to play was the stereo!’ She sacrificed much so that both of her daughters could enjoy instrumental and voice lessons as well as sports and social pursuits from young ages. 

Gene’s artistic talents also extended to cooking and baking, producing many cherished family recipes. Her Chocolate Mint Chip cookies are still lovingly remembered by acquaintances from decades ago. Inspired by her, I (Diana) am writing a cookbook, to try to capture her lovely creations and add some of my own.



Strong in her faith, mom was a longtime member of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa. When her work brought her back to Chicago in the mid-1980’s, she immediately joined and became a strong member of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Gene was also ‘Mom’ or ‘Mom-O’ to numerous friends and classmates of both of her daughters, providing warmth and an open home where all were welcome and none were turned away. She made lifelong friends wherever she went - making friends from ALL walks of life and then making them into family was a special gift of hers.

Mom had several health issues throughout her lifetime, triumphing twice over brain tumors, as well as many other challenges. She never let those setbacks get her down; she always proudly claimed to be ‘a tough old bird’ and ‘too ornery to give up yet’. Sadly, Mom passed away suddenly on Feb 7, 2021.

Mom did arrange to be cremated, but unfortunately did not have the means for broader arrangements. We ask humbly for your help in giving this great woman - our mom, our kids’ SuperGrandma - the sendoff which she has more than earned through her lifetime of joy and sacrifice. Please share the link widely and please donate, all amounts are welcome. I will provide updates as they become available; if we are able to surpass the goal, any extra will go into a scholarship fund. Thank you so much for your time and assistance.


We love you, mom.