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 and > > Sister-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.
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