Dorothy Frances Cici

Dorothy Frances Ceci joined the communion of saints early Sunday morning, July 31, 2022. She was 94 years old.
Born August 9, 1927, to Stanley Francis Zukowski and Helen Mary Zukowski (née Poznanski) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dorothy attended Messmer High School and on graduation started a bachelor of arts degree at Mount Mary College (now Mount Mary University). She married Louis John Ceci of the Bronx and Milwaukee on February 14, 1947. They had three children, Kristin Mary, Rémy Marie, and Louis Gabriel, before divorcing in 1954. She raised her children with the help of her parents and a variety of jobs, including a brief stint as the official greeter of the City of Milwaukee.
Dorothy had a life-long love of learning, and in 1961 she returned to college, earning a BA in English and Art History in 1965 from Wisconsin State University, Whitewater (now UW-Whitewater).
Dorothy had an abundance of skills and talents. Her poetry was published in the Mount Mary literary journal during her attendance there. An accomplished artist, she continued painting and drawing well into her eighties. In her forties, she became one of the first female underground cable splicers in the United States, learning the trade from her third husband, Paul Hoffman of Murphysboro, Illinois.
They traveled the country from Texas to New York, Alaska, and Florida. She settled in Tampa to care for her widowed father and worked at Moffitt Cancer Center. In 1996 she retired and moved to Durand, Wisconsin, to be closer to her daughters and grandchildren.
Dorothy loved literature ("My books are my friends"), light opera, and classical music. She was an accomplished cook, enthusiastic gourmand, and pianist. She loved a good dry martini. In 2003, she moved into St. Elizabeth's Care Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, where she frequently played the piano at Mass and was beloved by the staff and residents.
Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, Stanley and Helen; her sister Virginia Kiser; and her daughter Kristin. She is survived by her daughter Remy of Pepin, Wisconsin, and son Louis of Nevada City, California; her grandchildren Robert Louis Roach of Tampa, Florida, Joseph Henry Gleue of Belgium, Wisconsin, and Rose Helen Rogers of Port Washington, Wisconsin; and by her great-grandchildren, Max and Willow Rogers.
A private mass for the repose of Dorothy’s soul will be held in the chapel at Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s Care Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, on Thursday, August 4, 2022. Interment will follow at Oakwood Cemetery in Pepin, Wisconsin.
Services entrusted to Abbott Funeral Home & Crematory, Wabasha, MN. Words of sympathy or remembrance may be left at www.abbottfh.com.