Laura Ann (Thomas) Velligan

Laura A. Velligan, age 70, of Dyer, passed away Sunday, September 1, 2024. She is survived by her husband of 35 years Kenneth Velligan; children Marci (Jon) Lesczynski, Angela Miller, and Tom (Serena) Miller; stepchildren Rich (Mandy) Velligan, Jason (Danielle) Velligan, and Kenny Velligan; grandchildren Scott, Kira, Bethany, Alex, and Aggie; beloved great grandson Aaron “Little Man”; sister Julie Thomas; and sister in law Deb Thomas. She was preceded in death by her parents Thomas and Bette Thomas and brother Dave Thomas.

Services will be held at the Fagen-Miller Funeral Home, 8580 Wicker Ave in St. John, on Sunday, September 8, 2024 with visiting from 2:00 pm until the time of service at 6:00 pm.

Laura grew up in Calumet City. She graduated from Holy Cross and worked as a Registered Nurse at St Margaret’s in Hammond until she decided to change careers and become a full-time grandma, which was the career of her dreams! She also loved sunshine, so fittingly, she purchased and ran Endless Summer Tanning Spa. This combined both her passions: sunshine and having her grandchildren go to work with her. The only thing better was being promoted to Yaya in 2021. She was not only mom and grandma to her own biological family, but to all of their friends and teammates over the years. She was simply “Mom” or “Grandma” to all.

Laura and Ken loved to party and hosted annual summer bashes which everyone looked forward to. She was well traveled, finding the perfect margarita wherever she went. Laura and Ken bought a second home in Florida, her paradise, where she could enjoy the sun, pool, and beach year-round.

She was a life-long Cubs fan, still never missing a game. She finally was able to witness a World Championship in 2016 putting an end to Ken’s constant gloating as a Sox fan. You did not have to be a professional athlete though for Laura not to miss a game. She was her children’s and grandchildren’s biggest fan and supporter no matter what sport, club, or simply passion they had in their lives. She was not only a fan but loved to play volleyball, bowl, golf, fish, and the highlight of racing the “little guy” on their scooters.

Laura loved shopping and spoiling her family which converted to online shopping daily. If you own stock in Temu, Amazon, or Nuts.com, you may want to consider selling.

Laura was the pillar of our family and will be missed tremendously. So please raise a glass filled with a top shelf margarita on the rocks with salt in her honor!!

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