Dorothy M. Oakes

Dorothy Mardel Finch Pieczynski Oakes passed from this life on Monday, November 26, 2012. Dorothy resided at Prairie Hills where she enjoyed renewing friendships with classmates of years gone by and making many new ones. Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold. Visitation will be Friday, November 30, 2012 from 11:30-1:00pm at the Clinton Chapel Snell-Zornig Funeral Homes & Crematory. Graveside Services will be at 1:00pm at St. Mary’s Cemetery – Clinton. Serving as pallbearers will be Jim Pieczynski, Joe Pieczynski, Gabe Pieczynski, Patrick Pieczynski, David Pieczynski, and George Bowles. Dorothy was born in Clinton to Ed and Clara (Hansen) Finch on September 13, 1919. She married Anton Pieczynski in March of 1938. Tony and Dorothy ran Tony’s Tavern on Camanche Avenue until 1954 when they opened Sportsman’s Exchange, 910 South 4th Street, Clinton. They retired to Bellevue, Iowa where their love of antiques turned into a business, Heritage Antiques which they owned and operated until 1982 when Tony passed away. Dorothy returned to Clinton and resided on Millcrest Court. In 1986 she married Tom Oakes, that marriage ended in divorce. She shared a love of fishing with Tony all their married lives. Fishing Big & Little Winnie in Minnesota each year and trout on Bloody Run near Marquette and walleye at the Clinton and Bellevue dams on the Mississippi. Her other interests were golf, bowling, and bridge. In the past she served as a grey lady for the Red Cross working at the Schick Hospital as an instructor teaching leathercraft and copper tooling. She was a Girl Scout and Cub Scout leader, and introduced many of her children’s friends to the joy of fishing. She was also a member of Prince of Peace Catholic Church and the Clinton and Fulton Country Clubs. She is survived by her daughter, Rita (Mark) Waage and son Richard (Trish) Pieczynski, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, a sister, three sisters-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews and good friends: Donna and Ben Ehrhart. She was preceded in death by her husband, Tony, one son Frank in 2007, and infant son, her parents, brothers: Cliff, Bob, Earl, Chuck, and Eddie Finch, a sister Fay (Howard) Sentman, an infant sister, brother-in-laws Walcow Pieczynski and Joe Pieczynski and her special friend of more than twenty years: Bob Chalgren (2009), and her best friends, Lavina Bostock, Marion Doyle, Winnie Shull, Fran Ladehoff, Lucy Kurtz, and Ann Lehman. The family requests that memorials may be made to The American Heart Association.

Dorothy M. Oakes

September 13, 1919 - November 26, 2012