Memorials › Dorothy Elizabeth Wendt Molczyk
Dorothy Elizabeth Wendt Molczyk
12 Sep 1933 – 3 Aug 2000
| Birth | 12 Sep 1933 |
| Death | 3 Aug 2000 |
| Cemetery | Grand Island Cemetery Grand Island , Hall County , Nebraska , USA |
| Added by | Lawrence molczyk on 28 Dec 2023 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13099964 |
Bio
Daughter of Louis Frederick & Edith Irene (Humphrey) Wendt. Married to George Stanley Molczyk on 6-19-1951 at Grand Island, NE. Dorothy Elizabeth Molczyk September 12,1933 to August 3, 2000 Dorothy Elizabeth Wendt was born September 12th 1933 to Louis and Edith Wendt in Grand Island, Nebraska. Their young family lived in the back of a family-owned, neighborhood grocery at 512 West sixth street. It was said that as a baby, she resembled her mother. She was named after her mother's friend, Elizabeth. Dorothy had three siblings. Her brother, Ralph, who was ten years older and two younger sisters, Marvel and Paula. Grandpa Humphrey, who owned the small grocery, was her greatest inspiration. Grandpa would buy the children tablets, papers and pencils and would set them up with their own "store" to manage. He taught them to buy and sell. He showed them to count money. Sometimes the children would play "boss and secretary" in the front of the store. "Grandpa was the one who taught us to believe in ourselves," she said. "He taught us the skills we would need for the future." The events surrounding WW2 were another major childhood influence. Many times she recounted the story of having first heard the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio in the family store, which was owned by her grandfather. The war changed her life in many ways. Her older brother Ralph volunteered for the Army. Ralph was stationed in Alaska, where his feet were accidentally frozen. His toe joints were replaced with metal inserts. Never again was he able to live in a cold climate. He would leave Nebraska for California. Thereafter, Dorothy played the role of oldest sister. Again and again, she would take on responsibilities as helper and caretaker of her mother, sisters and ultimately her sister's children, Doris and Gail. She was a member of Girl Scout Troop number 12, the first in Grand Island. Her Mother, Edith served as leader. During the war she and other Girl Scouts collected milkweed pods to make life preservers. They collected scrap metal and saved the aluminum foil from gum wrappers. The times in which she grew up were lean but what could have been called poverty was really a prescription for ingenuity. Throughout her life she was able to create a richness and beauty from the ordinary. Dorothy was in the fourth grade when they moved to a small apartment made from a converted garage at 209 1/2 West sixth. Her childhood schools would be familiar names to any of us these days. The Howard school she attended was at the site of what is now Lions Club Park. She attended Walnut school, which is now the location of Howard school. She graduated from Grand Island Senior high, which was known as Walnut Junior High to her children. Only teachers like Mrs. De Maranville Minnie Zeulke were the same by the time her children attended school. Near the end of the war, she traveled to Florida in a 22-foot trailer with her family. The excitement of the journey was one of her favorite childhood memories. In later years, regular family camping trips became one of her favorite things. It allowed her to experience that trip again and again. Her final trip to see the California redwoods was a fulfillment of a life-long dream. She loved to travel. She loved the journey. Throughout her years, she maintained a sense of awe and wonderment about the world... a sense she imparted to each of her children and grandchildren through the stories she told. As a girl, it was Dorothy's dream to become a nurse. It was only after her father died of stomach cancer in 1948 that she decided it wasn't the career for her. Nevertheless, Mom became the repository of medical knowledge for the family. She carried forth the use of home remedies inherited from her mother. She supplemented her knowledge with a library of family medical guides and prescription resource books. An unknown rash experienced by one of the grandchildren resulted in a call to Mom, even before the Doctor was consulted. After the death of her father, she helped out the family by working as head cashier at the Grand and Capitol Theatres. She brought the early skills taught by her Grandfather with her into her jobs. She worked as a sales clerk at the Hested's five and Dime. She also, worked as a gift wrapper at Brandies and Goldstein Chapman in Omaha. In 1951 she met her future husband, George Molczyk at the Cherry Street Dance Hall in Grand Island. On June 19th 1951 they were married in St. Mary's Cathedral. Having come from a protestant, First Congregational family background, her decision to convert to Catholicism was a difficult one for her family to accept. She became a major adherent to her new faith in spite of those costs. She took on the role of spiritual teacher for her children as they grew. One of her children once asked why there were so many religion and she replied that they all worshiped the same God but in different ways. "You'll find the Ten Commandments in each one of them," she said. Although German/English in decent, she took on the mantle of her husband's Polish heritage as if it were her own. She had a major role in documenting the genealogical history of the family. She organized many family reunions for the Molczyk/Kowalski Family. In 1952 a son, Larry was born. A year later the eldest daughter, Cathy was born. During the early years the family moved frequently, from Alda, to Grand Island, Omaha and even California. In 1960 they bought a house at 917 north Poplar, which had been owned by Dorothy's mother. It was here that a second Daughter, Beverly was born. It was during this time that Dorothy's mother; Edith began to fail in her own health. She was the victim of a slow, degenerative disease called Pick's disease, which resulted in growing senility. Dorothy became her caretaker but when the job became an impossibility, she was confronted with one of the most difficult decisions of her life. It was of necessity that her mother, Edith was eventually committed to the Hastings Regional Center. At that time, the family moved into her former home at 112 East 7th. Weekly Sunday visits to the hospital visit her mother, dominated the years until Edith's death in 1973. When her sister, Marvel divorced and was left with two small girls, Dorothy opened her home and heart to help her through that transition. The family grew to six with the addition of Doris and Gail. She always described them as her most special children. "With my other children, I took what God gave me, but I was able to choose you," she would say. Doris and Gail were never formally adopted, but became as much her children as any other. She learned to sew from her mother and continue to work on sewing and craft projects for the next fifty years. During the Nebraska Centennial in 1967 she hand-made over 750 decorative, brocade vests. She made hundreds of Swans from coat hangers, pipe cleaners and nylon netting, and supplemented the family income with her work for many years. She sewed many clothes for her children. A hand-Made outfit from mother carried no stigma. Her handy work was far better than anyone could produce commercially. She could look at the latest fashions and modify any pattern in order to create the latest in design. With a son who was who was 6 ft. 4 in junior high it was all but impossible to buy clothing that fit. There were no big and tall clothing stores in the 1960s and what was available was a meager selection. Many of her best creations included "Arrow shirts", "Cossack Shirts", Nehru jackets hand and Edwardian clothing. As the years went by and her family grew, sock monkeys and Halloween costumes were added to her repertoire. Dorothy personally baked and decorated the wedding cakes for all of her children and many of her relatives. She earned many awards for her baking and craftwork. She was featured in the Grand Island independent on a regular basis in the "Silver Spoon" section. She realized that after she was gone the small oak recipe box she had used since junior high would be a cherished item. It was stuffed to overflowing with favorite family recipes, which had been generations in the making. Over the years she added many more such as "monkey bread," anchovy dip and three- bean casserole. For Christmas, 1991 she handcrafted vinyl-covered notebooks. Painstakingly, she typed out each recipe and reproduced it in multiples of 6. The result was one of the most-cherished gifts she ever passed along to her children. Her husband always felt that it was important for her to be home for the family. The family grew to six children in 1970, with the birth of Karen. George never liked the idea of her working outside the home, but when the children were older she took on jobs such as telemarketing for Sears. After the 1980 tornados, she went to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Each election season, she helped man the election headquarters. For eight years she was a member of the St. Mary's altar society and for nine years, was head of the bingo committee. It was a perfect job for someone who loved BINGO as much as she. Mom ran a "craft" circle, and with other ladies from the church, created many items for sale at the yearly bazaar. Ultimately, when the items she had painstakingly crafted were marked to sell for less than the cost supplies, she grew discouraged. From a small bedroom in the front of the house, she sold and produced hundreds of her creations. Among the most favored of her products were magnetic photo albums, decorated in satin and lace. She added her own special touch to an already popular item. On the front of each album was a small picture frame to hold a cover photo. That front bedroom/craft room was the birthplace of many of her grandchildren's school projects. There were always just the right craft supplies available and Grandma could always suggest a new and better design. She delighted in teaching them what she knew. She just loved their company. Each grandchild carries the memory of special times with her, the books she read them, the projects she made for them. She invented an elasticized blanket cover for portable baby carriers and car seats. A flap, held in place by Velcro, could cover the baby entirely when the weather called for it. She called her snug creations, "cocoons". With the cocoon, she began to think seriously about moving from a home workshop into mass production. It was a unique product. It was unlike anything else on the market and it was of immediate appeal to new mothers. Unfortunately she had marketed her new product so successfully in the year before she sought a patent; she could no longer claim ownership of the design. She continued to make scores of her latest product... one by one until her health failed. Such elasticized baby carriers are now widely available, but none are as finely crafted or as lovingly created. In 1995 her son, Larry began his own business, producing wedding videos. She modified the design of her photo albums to create elegant video boxes for his work. She continued to work until the pain of her chronic arthritis grew unbearable. She worked on even after losing part of the function of her left arm after rotater cuff surgery. Once she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1999 she seldom spent time in her craft room again. Little by little she had to give up the things she loved the most. She was an avid fan of cross word puzzles. A variety of cross word puzzles dictionaries filled the small shelf beside her favorite chair. But as painkillers and her disease dulled her fine mind, she was barely able to write. Dorothy was always a manager and organizer. In the 1960s she helped to manage the family business, Molczyk's Coin Shop. She organized family reunions. Birthday parties, orchestrated weddings and decorated cakes. She did fund-raising for many projects over the years. She never lacked the ability to ask for something if it was for a good cause. She solicited donations for Church activities, Scouting and Neighborhood organizations. She was the first one to collect money for flowers when there was a death in the neighborhood or family. As the wife of a city fireman, Dorothy would organize the other wives to help provide refreshments when they were called out on a large fire. She could insure that her children sold more hobby fair tickets or Girl Scout cookies than anyone else. She served as the final caretaker for her mother-in-law. Upon her mother-in-law's death in January of 1999, when she was struggling in an effort to come to terms with her own, final illness, she organized Grandma Molczyk's final affairs. It was Dorothy's dream to see the California Redwoods before she died. Fortunately, he daughter, Karen and her husband had the resources to make it happen. During the trip in July of 2000, she was more alert and stronger than she had been in weeks. Dorothy began to walk better and do things for herself that she had been unable to do for many weeks. In her picture in front of the world's largest tree, she radiated her satisfaction of a triumphant life. She was now ready for her final journey home. When asked what she would change if she had her life to live over again, she said, "I wouldn't change a thing. My children have made me proud and if a person can say that, they fairly succeeded in life." Worked at Sears in the business dept., for the Census Bureau in Grand Island and with FEMA after the 1980 Tornado's. Also worked with election headquarters in Grand Island and was part owner of Molczyk Coin Shop.
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