Barbara J. Dierkes (nee Hickey), 84, of Forest Park died on Jan. 17, 2012. Mrs. Dierkes worked as a commercial and residential Realtor in Oak Park for 25 years. She became an insurance broker and, with her husband, Vince, started the V.J. Dierkes Insurance Co.
With her husband she also started and ran Oak Park Youth Baseball/Softball in the late 1950s.
Barbara Dierkes was the wife of the late Vincent J.; the mother of Jane (Louis) Martin and Kathleen (Charles “Butch”) Novak; the grandmother of Joseph and Brittany Novak and Justin and Jordan Martin; and the great-grandmother of Ryan Martin.
