DOLLY

We lost Bob’s Mother, my sweet Mother-in-law in January, 2003. She was the true Italian Mother. Her name was Clara. When she had to fix her birth certificate, which wasn’t correct, she added Dolly to it as her middle name. She was the baby, and they always called her their little Dolly, so the name Dolly stuck. Her parents came to New York, through Ellis Island from Italy. Her father came first, then moved to Northern Minnesota for a job at the mines, in a town that is no longer there. Then he sent for Dolly’s Mother and her oldest sister. The other 6 girls were born in Minnesota. Eventually her parents came to Duluth, where she grew up, the youngest of seven girls. Her maiden name was Rich, and the girls were known as the Rich Sisters from “Little Italy” on the hillside. Someday I will write more about her history, but today I want to post a piece that I wrote about her and read at her funeral:

“Dolly was the heart of our family. The stroke and Alzheimer’s put her in a nursing home 4 ½ years ago, but she has remained the heart and always will!

Dolly was a loving mother, a loyal friend, a hard worker, always full of humor and kindness. Her nephew Jim, told how he loved her jokes. She was always the life of the party. In the nursing home, often a nurse would say to us “Dolly must have been a spit fire and full of spunk” and we told them, yes she sure was. We loved her spunk. She was the baby of 7, but she was the leader amongst them….she was a strong woman, she learned that from her Mother. She passed that strength on to her daughter and to me, in an age when women weren’t so strong. She was a good sister. Though she was the baby, she acted more like the big sister to her sisters that lived here in Duluth.

As a daughter in law, she was the kindest Mother in law anyone could have. Coming to Duluth as a bride from PA 33 yrs ago, I was very homesick and she was always there to support and and comfort me. She took my Mother’s place when I was in labor with our first child. (Dawn). I wanted my Mother to be here so badly for the baby’s birth, but she couldn’t, so Dolly was the best. She was there with me as much as she could be, and gave me courage. Her Woolworth friends still tell about that day, how excited she was to become Grandma, and her runs to the hospital, they were glad when Dawn arrived so that they could get her back to work! Dolly as the Grandmother…boy did she love those kids…she doted on them, spoiled them, and supported them always. All the grand-children tell about their memories of her wonderful food. She knew how to make the best Italian dishes. Saturday mornings Bob would often take the children to her house to visit, so I could clean and she made them a large breakfast. She had us for Sunday dinners. Her meals always consisted of 3 or 4 kinds of meat, plus the spaghetti and meatballs and her homemade pastas. Carmella and I have never been able to duplicate her meatballs…and we will never have as good a meatball as she made. I tried hard to learn, she helped me make them, I watched her lots of times, and they still did not turn out like hers. Her meatballs were the size of a baseball, but moist, and they never fell apart in the sauce…still can’t figure out why.

She worked hard all her life. She was a waitress, before starting at FW Woolworth’s downtown Duluth. She worked there for 39 years, and her years spent at Woolworth’s were happy ones. She started in the plant department and moved around to every dept. in the store. I heard from her friends there that she had a passion for ordering candles …and for the candy counter and the roasted cashews. They told us that she was always the life of all their parties and would glitter. One time she forgot her shoes at the Jolly Fisher and they went to Tony’s after, and she danced all evening in her stocking feet. She survived two knee surgeries, and she was back at work soon after. She was frequently heard to say at the store “I have a little boy to give away, anyone want him?”…they loved her humor.

She was supportive of her daughter, Carmella, who never took the usual route in life. Carmella became an opera singer and Dolly was very proud of her and her husband, who is also an opera singer. Dolly worried plenty when Carmella was ill with her bad heart, and gave her lots of support during her illness. As I said, she was a supportive, kind and loving Mother, Grandmother and friend, and we have all been blessed by knowing her and we will all miss her and keep her in our hearts forever!