Passed away at age 90, hearing the prayers of her loving family who were at her side. Beloved wife of the late James Argenzio. Loving mother of Sandy (Pete) Skodras, John
(Kim) Argenzio, Donna (Clay) Creighton. Loving grandmother of Donnell (Clay), Nicole (Trey), Lee (Amy), Joe (Brooke), Katrina (Jamie), James (Alicyn), Melissa, Michelle,
Tylor. Loving great-grandmother of Chase, Lexi, Sutton, Ryder, Caden, Kosta, Carter, Estelle, Jett, Sevaeh, and Madelyn. Further survived by her sisters Audrey Caruso and Shirley Klug.

Dolores was born in Ironwood Michigan to an iron miner and a French dressmaker. One of the youngest of eight children, she helped raise her nieces and nephews during the Great Depression. As a military wife, she traveled the U.S. with her husband later settling in Wisconsin. She was a beautiful, selfless woman who lived a full life
joyfully caring for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She put children first, giving them her attention and leaving them feeling her love. As a fantastic cook, her love could be felt through her meals. With her green thumb, she brought fresh vegetables to the table and surrounded us with floral beauty. Her secret talents were dressmaking, drawing, and a lovely singing voice. She liked to see people having fun, enjoying the excitement of weddings and dances. Her peaceful moments were with kittens, puppies, and the occasional fishing rod. She truly loved the world that God had shared with her.

Her love so strongly felt, will penetrate our sorrow, and the memory of this caring, gentle, loving woman, will always be with us.

Due to the current public health situation, private services were held.

From A Grandchild’s Heart.

There will never be enough time to honor our grandmother’s life but I will try my best since grandma always made sure to make the time for every one of us. Every moment she made special and she blessed us all with a lifetime of memories. Whenever I spent time with grandma, it felt like time had stopped. She had this special magic ability to stop the world in its tracks no matter how crazy life got.  It now it feels like my world has stopped but the rest of the world has not. Right now, everything going on around us is scary and more than ever, I need her here to give me just one more moment of peace and a grandmother’s love. I am hoping today I can share with you a just a few of my memories so we can try to use these type of moments as comfort instead of pain.

Something I learned to do during bad times is to take a moment to stop and think of being somewhere that brings me peace and makes me calm.  For me that was grandma’s back yard on 96^th street. I picture myself sitting the soft bright green grass I can smell the lilac bushes a perfect summer breeze and Grandma out in the yard hanging clothes or gardening.

When I was a kid I remember sitting with grandma in the morning taking my jelly toast and dunking it in a cup of coffee (the way she taught me). This was my time with grandma that made me feel so important.  I would give anything now to sit at the kitchen table with grandma and her cup of coffee. I will miss her giving me updates on everyone in the family and she was so proud of every one of you. She would also give me updates on all of your dogs. I know more about all of your pets than you would believe.

Sometimes I thought her main mission in life was to feed us. She would always ask 2 or 3 times if you wanted a sandwich or pastry and you could say no as much as you liked and still a sandwich and pastry would appear out of nowhere.

She would take me through her garden and talk about all the plants and flowers where she got them and what animals were after them, what chipmunks were living their best life in her garage. I’ll miss that so much she really did enjoy being outside and noticed things most of us would not. She would even take Chase out to her garden when he was little. We still would laugh together about the time he somehow rubbed jalapenos all over his head.

I also remember that sleepovers at grandmas were always a special time. Running around playing all day a full belly at night and a nice relaxing time in grandma’s living room falling asleep while she watched her country music show.

I loved sitting with her in her driveway in the summer she would get the lawn chairs out and we would sit and talk for hours. She would want to know everything going on in her great grandkids lives. (I randomly remember one summer her scolding grandpa for catching bees with his bare hands.)

She made so many Christmas and Easter celebrations memorable. I attempted making her cookies this year and those spritz’s made me so angry, I don’t know how she did it for so many years.

I really believe she was a super grandma. I would have my days as a mother keeping up with kids when they were little and I’d be running around in my sweatpants and messy hair, just trying to keep sane. But not grandma she woke up beautiful, everything in her home was always perfect. She in part raised all 22 of us and never complained or asked for anything in return.  Her perfectly planned meals were always consistent and in a crazy world when life just takes a toll on us those meals were everything.

Although I was convinced, I was her favorite I know she has made us all feel that way. All 22 of us. Her happiness came from us. She lived for our visits, our phone calls, our celebrations. She always helped me through the worst and celebrated the best. Through every bad decision and struggle I have had, she was there not to judge but to listen. She has taught me to appreciate what is important in life and to make it meaningful. From both living with Grandma and be raised by someone who is so much like her, I learned how to be a mother and I can only hope to someday be an ounce of the mother and grandmother she was.

When you’re sad, scared, and hurting I would like you to try to use the many special moments grandma has given us. There will be many situations where we want her here with us, and she still can be. Just remember the lifetime of memories she gave to us. I will think of her most on those perfect days in the summer and I will make sure I always stop to smell the lilacs. To me it is all of the little memories that will get me through this.

Grandma, I love you and thank you for dedicating everything to your family, you will always be in my heart.