Friends of Johnsburg woman killed in Monday crash raising funds for funeral expenses, her dogs’ care

Friends of Roberta “Bobbie” Wisch are raising money not only to help cover the Johnsburg woman’s funeral expenses, but to ensure her three dogs are taken care of.

Wisch, 40, was killed Monday in an early-morning single-car crash on Fox Lake Road. Friends said Wisch’s dog Winnie was in the car with her when the crash happened.

“Her dogs were her life,” said Pat Matos, one of Wisch’s friends who started a GoFundMe for her funeral expenses.

Neighbor and friend Angela Redman said Wisch’s dogs, Winnie, Eleanor and Dallie, are being placed with friends and family with the promise that the dogs will get to see each other from time to time.

“They are a pack, and you don’t want to separate a pack. They are waiting for Bobbie to come home,” Redman said.

It’s not easy to rehome three large dogs while allowing them to stay together, Redman said.

She said dogs also grieve the loss of their people.

“They can get depressed,” Redman said. “They can slowly decline in their health,” particularly if they can no longer smell their person.

She plans to give the people taking the dogs “things that smell like Bobbie” to help with that separation, she said.

Bobbie’s mother, also named Roberta Wisch, is taking one of the dogs, Redman said. Friends in the area have agreed to take on the other two.

Winnie is particularly worrisome – not because she was in the crash, but because she had escaped and was hit by a truck at the end of October.

Redman said she saw Winnie and Eleanor out of their yard when Winnie was hit. She was able to get Eleanor inside safely, but Winnie ran after she was struck.

Friends and people who saw requests for help on Facebook searched for Winnie that night with no luck. Winnie found her own way home and was found in Wisch’s front yard the next day.

Winnie is being treated for a broken leg and deep lacerations from that incident, Matos said.

Once the funeral costs are covered, the plan is to help Wisch’s mother with the cost of cleaning out Wisch’s home and to also give money to the three families taking the dogs, Matos said.

“We are all trying to do as much as we can for [Wisch]. She was a special, special person with the biggest heart of anyone you’ll ever meet, and we all deeply miss her,” Matos said.

A memorial service is set for 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Justen Funeral Home in Round Lake.