Indiana Funeral Care
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Dolores Irene Martina (91) died on 18 March 2020 at the home of her daughter in Indianapolis, Indiana, six months after a diagnosis of terminal esophageal cancer. Dolores was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, on 18 January 1929 to Polish immigrant parents Marion (Mike) and Alice (nee Alexandra Rosienski) Lipinski. The only daughter amid four brothers, she attended St Stanislaus Kostka grade school, where her Polish language skills were nurtured and lifelong friendships with Stephanie Stoneburner and Virginia Burnas were begun. Growing up during the Great Depression gave her an enduring appreciation for the Yankee virtues-"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"-and she embraced them fiercely (much to her family's bemusement) even after her finances improved. Although she earned a partial scholarship to Our Lady of Mount Carmel high school after graduating eighth grade, she was so worried about the family's economics that she attended only one semester before transferring to Wyandotte Roosevelt public high school, where she graduated in 1946.
Dolores immediately began work as a secretary at Wyandotte Chemicals; her shorthand, dictation, and typing skills served her in the Export Department and eventually as an assistant to a vice-president in the Manufacturing Division for nearly 10 years before she married. She also volunteered several hours a week at Wyandotte General Hospital for the American Red Cross as a Gray Lady, cheering patients with her beautiful smile, doe-like brown eyes, and graceful bearing. The family cherishes several company magazines from the 1950s where Dolores is a lovely model and a beautiful complement to many group photos.
On 11 June 1955, she married Joe Martina and moved to Allen Park, Michigan, where they welcomed three children: Joe, Alice, and Jim. Dolores worked part-time for Wayne County during elections and kept a beautiful post-war suburban home. She adored her rose garden, and at one time boasted more than 100 tea rose bushes in her back yard. She was an accomplished seamstress and spent happy hours stitching clothes for herself and for her kids, especially her daughter. If she was in the dumps, her best therapy was to spend an hour or more in a fabric store, perusing pattern books and stroking the bolts of fabric, dreaming of what she might create. At last count, she had more than 300 individual pattern envelopes from the 1950s to the 2000s, attesting to a lifetime love of textiles. Dolores was also fearless in the kitchen; a gathering of friends and family was the perfect opportunity for her to try out complicated new recipes, and she enlisted the entire family in their frenzied preparation (consequently, all her children are also competent cooks). She seemed always prepared for the camera in the way that 1940s-era women have-lipstick on, hair coifed (or at least the babushka scarf covering the pin curls)-even to run to the grocery or mow the lawn. Her favorite colors were eternal: rose and aqua, and she would admonish everyone younger than she: "wear bright colors; you're only young once."
In 1968, the family moved to Riverview, Michigan, and as soon as all the kids were in school, Dolores went to work at the E. J. Korvettes department store as a sales clerk. She was a "lunch lady" in the halls at St Cyprian school, sang in the choir at St. Cyprian Church, and ran the White Elephant booth at fall festivals for many years in the 1970s. She worked with neighbor Beverly Muzzin as a janitor for the Wyandotte YMCA and went into business with neighbor Delores Baharis washing walls. She was an assistant in a nursing home pharmacy for friends Sal and Audrey Falzone; the smell of vitamin B Complex took her back to those busy days. Dolores was afraid of no kind of work and loved nothing more than being useful. In 1978, she returned to her secretarial roots in downtown Detroit at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan in the building services department (she said she could never understand the medical end of the business), where she worked until her retirement in 1988. Yet even after she and Joe moved to their retirement home in Hendersonville, North Carolina, she wanted to be busy and stay productive. She worked for several years in the early 1990s for Clifford & Wills/J. Crew taking phone orders so that she could be a participating member of the world. She and Joe were happy members of the Hendersonville Polish-American Club for several years, hosting dinners and participating in an annual parade. Witamy! Those grade-school Polish lessons stood her in good stead!
Dolores was one of those unsung women who brought females-and her entire family-"to the modern table" by example: she was forthright, brave, honest, and demanding. She was gracious and formidable, a combination that makes sense only if you knew her. Her children knew both discipline and unquestionable love, for which they will be forever grateful. In her last months, she received phenomenal care from Four Seasons Hospice in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and Transitions Hospice in Indianapolis, Indiana; there are no more wonderful angels on Earth than hospice nurses. She is preceded in death by her parents Mike and Alice Lipinski, husband Joe Martina, and brothers Don and John Lipinski. She leaves to mourn her brothers Henry (Theresa) and Stan Lipinski; brother-in-law Carlo Martina; sisters-in-law Clara, Helen, and Georgie Lipinski; children Joe (Katrina Branting) Martina, Alice (Mark) Smith, and Jim Martina; grandchildren Xona Smith, Alyse (Keith) Zeller, Luke Martina, and Joseph Martina; and many beloved Lipinski and Martina nieces and nephews and Skalski cousins.
Memorial services will be scheduled in Wyandotte, Michigan, after the COVID-19 restrictions lift. Dolores will be interred in Michigan Memorial Park Cemetery.
LINKS
The News-Herald
http://www.thenewsherald.com
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