Florence Dodge's Obituary
Florence B. Dodge, loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother
passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning, October 17th 2012 at Eden
Meadows with her family by her side.Florence was born in Oshkosh, WI on December 16, 1919 to John and Barbara
Girens.She was married to Russell E. Dodge who preceded her in death in 1979 and
together they had five children. Russell was in the Air Force so they lived
in many parts of the United States including living in the Phillippines
with their five children. When Russell retired from the Air Force in 1962
they made their home in Oshkosh. Florence worked at the Sno-Cap Drive-In
for several years while the children were in school but for the most part
was fortunate enough to be able to stay home to raise her family.Florence loved her family very much and was so grateful they all lived
closeby so they could be together often. Christmas Eve filled her home with
40 plus family members which she so looked forward to even though we had to
split up among the living room, dining room, kitchen and even the open
stairway in the living room for places to sit. She always kept herself busy
with housework and yard work and at 92 was still driving her car and living
by herself in her big two story house until June of this year when she went
to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Gail and Gary Lenz.Mom loved to play Solitaire and there was always a deck of very worn cards
on the top of her refrigerator. She watched her father play it daily and
picked it up from him. She rarely missed a day of playing. She also enjoyed
bowling and bowled on a seniors league a Shoreview for several years. She
missed doing her own yard work and shoveling the snow and in fact we had to
physically take her shovel away from her at the age of 88 so she wouldn’t
go out and shovel before one of the kids could get over to do it for her.Her Christmas cookies and head cheese were the best! When she told her
grandson Mike that she probably wouldn’t be making cookies this year but
she would give him her recipe he said, “Oh no Grandma, they just wouldn’t
be the same.” Every year she would make Zuchinni bread and would make sure
every child and grandchild got at least one loaf and if there were any
extra maybe the neighbors might get a loaf too. Last year at age 91 she
made 32 loaves. This year she “supervised” her daughter Gail in making 34
loaves so she could still pass them out. We will try making her headcheese
this Christmas to keep the tradition of eating it on Christmas Eve but it
is going to be tough as we never watched her do the hard work of making it,
only had the pleasure of enjoying it.The family would like to thank her primary doctor Dr. Ammar Alzoubi for the
wonderful care he gave to our mother for many years and to his nurses Cathy
and Jen who were always so nice to her and the rest of her family at each
visit. Mom actually thought of her visits with Dr. Alzoubi as a social
outing as she looked forward to seeing him. We would also like to thank Dr.
Zhou for the wonderful care he gave mom to ease her pain of arthritis. She
was so happy to get rid of the pain in her shoulders so she could get back
to washing windows and clipping the lilac bush at 90 years old. We would
also like to thank the staff at Caring Connections, especially Linda, for
helping her while she was living with her daughter. We would also like to
thank the wonderful staff at Eden Meadows for taking such wonderful care of
our mom while she was there and also for being so accommodating to us
during this very difficult time. We will miss her dearly and love her
forever.Surviving are her children Gary Dodge, Ronald Dodge (Kathy), Gail Lenz
(Gary), Douglas Dodge (Cathy) and Nancy Bloechl, grandchildren Michael,
Scott (Hannah), Tom (Nikki) and Jeff Dodge, Steve (Heather) and Ryan (Dana)
Lenz, Shelly (fiancee Dan Paulick) Anklam, Dan Borski, Bill Butzlaff,
Heather (Will) Andersen, Amanda Dodge, Tara Porter, Trisha (Nels)Rose, and
great-grandchildren Alex, Tyler, Kayla, Cody and Bella Dodge, Ethan,
Jordan, Dayton and Drew Lenz, Haleigh, Emma and Carter Dodge, Tyler, Brett
and Emily Anklam, Kenadie Holmes, Claire Andersen, Adele Rose and Jake
Paulick.Also surving are her brother-in-law Howard (Carol) Dodge,Sister-in-Law
Geraldine Dodge andSister-In-Law Jean Girens (California)
She was preceded in death by her sisters Lucille Mosley, Marcella Jensen,
Janet Olson, Evelyn Woolley, Beatrice Girens, Esther Tintle, and two
sisters who died in infancy Gertrude and Rose Ann and brothers Raymond
Girens, Victor Girens Sr., and James Girens. She is further survived by
many nieces and nephews.
What’s your fondest memory of Florence?
What’s a lesson you learned from Florence?
Share a story where Florence's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Florence you’ll never forget.
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