MONTFORT/VERONA — Dorothy Dorszynski Lepeska died on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 3, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Montfort, with burial to follow in the parish cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2, at the Soman-Larson Funeral Home in Montfort, where a parish prayer service will be held at 8 p.m. on Sunday evening.
Born March 30, 1920, to Marie (Chmielewski) and Joseph Dorszynski, Dorothy spent her young years living above her parents’ drug store on Mitchell Street in Milwaukee. She attended St. Anthony Catholic School, South Division High School, and graduated from Marquette University with majors in Latin, English, and journalism in 1942. She worked for the Burlington Press the summer of 1942 and started teaching at Montfort High School that fall. Dorothy met Joseph Lepeska, a farmer, at St. Thomas Church, and by Christmas they were engaged. They married October 16, 1943, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Milwaukee.
Dorothy generously gave her time and talents to her family and touched the lives of many others. In addition to being a full-time farm wife and mother, she volunteered, gardened, baked, canned, and was very active at church. In 1961, she returned to teaching at Iowa-Grant High School and Southwest Technical College. Dorothy volunteered with her parish, church, the Wisconsin Women in Agriculture, and the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW), including as President and long-time newsletter editor. For decades, Dorothy was a correspondent for the Catholic Herald.
Adventurous and active, Dorothy traveled extensively, including Europe and Australia. She regularly attended the diocesan and National Council of Catholic Women conventions. She was proud of attending graduations and weddings of her grandchildren, dancing at each wedding. Until age 90, Dorothy lived on the family dairy farm near Montfort.
Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, husband Joseph in 1992, son David in 1979, and three brothers; Joseph, Richard, and Donald. She is survived by five children: Allyn (Ellen Fitzsimmons), Dallas, Texas; James (Linda), Montfort; Mary Frances (Patrick Tearney), Port Washington; Jane Grinde (Jon), Madison; and Betty Anne Bittner (Mark), Two Rivers. She has 18 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of plants and flowers, a memorial fund is being established in loving memory of Dorothy Lepeska.