Visitation
Obituary of Dolores Alice Rycenga
Dolores A. Rycenga of Rochester, New York, died August 15, 2025. She was born October 23, 1926, in New York City, the only daughter of Ralph J. and May Shelton. She grew up in Michigan, where she met her husband, John A. Rycenga, while in high school in Detroit. Married in 1948, they had three children, and lived successively in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Fairfield, Connecticut. After John’s early death in 1968, Dolores worked as the Director of Social Activities at St. Vincent’s College of Nursing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and following her retirement, in a series of childcare positions. She moved to Greece, New York in 2006, where she was active in Time Out for Women, volunteered at Unity Hospital, and was the recipient of the Eli Rudin Second Half Hero Award in 2019. Since 2023 she has been a resident of St. John’s Home in Rochester.
Dolores was a lover of life, of children and pets, of sports and beer. She loved family occasions and good dinners. She championed justice and education. She encouraged everyone she met. Dolores took great pride and care in how she dressed, right until her final days. She was proud of each and every one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her faith in God and joy in the universe were boundless.
She is survived by her three daughters – Mary Rycenga Shukie and her husband John of Baltimore, Maryland; Jennifer Rycenga and her wife Peggy Macres of Rochester, New York, and Clara Rycenga Marchese and her husband Rick of Irondequoit, New York – seven grandchildren: Liz Shukie Borst and her husband John, Lauren Shukie McHugh and her husband Tom, John Shukie and his wife Maricela, Stephen Shukie and his wife Molly, Miranda Marchese Carroll and her husband Tim, Ricky Marchese, and Lydia Marchese and her fiance Marcel Gietzmann-Sanders – and ten great-grandchildren – John Aidan Borst and his wife Belle, Ella Borst, Anna Borst, Thomas J. McHugh, Mary McHugh, Marisol Shukie, Sofia Shukie, Nadia Shukie, Jack Shukie, and Abigail Shukie. She was predeceased by her beloved husband John Arthur Rycenga (1927-1968), and her half-brother Jerome.
Calling hours will be held on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 from 4-7pm at Falvo Funeral Home, 1395 N. Goodman St. Rochester, NY 14609. She will be buried in September at St. Michael's Cemetery, Stratford, Connecticut.
In lieu of flowers, she requested that donations be made to the John A. and Dolores Rycenga Scholarship in the English Department at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
https://www.sacredheart.edu/