Dorothy Crockett

Dorothy A. Crockett, age 91 of Cottage Grove, died October 4, 2014 in Cottage Grove surrounded by family.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 am Thursday, October 9, 2014 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 920 Holley Avenue S., St. Paul Park. Visitation will be Wednesday from 4:00-7:00 pm at Kok Funeral Home, 1201 Portland Avenue, St. Paul Park and also for one hour prior to the service at church. Interment will be at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Preceded in death by parents, husband William, son Bill, brothers Archie, Phil, Frank and Mike Bifulk and sister Mary. Survived by sister, Angie; son Stephen (Judy); daughter Gail (Ric), 12 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren.

Dorothy Antoinette Crockett was born on April 20, 1923 to Joseph and Philomena Bifulk in St. Paul, Minnesota. Grandma and Grandpa Bifulk were Italian immigrants from the Naples area of Italy. Mom grew up in and around the east side of St. Paul with her brothers and sisters - her older brother, Archie, who died of polio at 14 years of age, and younger siblings Mary, Phillip, Frank, Mike and Angie.

Mom left school early – something she always regretted – to work and help the family out during the Depression years. She worked for the Emporium as a young girl. She joined the Navy when she turned 21 in 1944 and worked in Washington, DC until the end of the war. While there she played in the Drum and Bugle Corp, and learned clerical skills at which she exceled. She began to correspond with William B.E. Crockett and met in late December of 1945. Three weeks after meeting in person, they married at the Cathedral in Washington D.C. on January 5, 1946.

After the war ended they traveled to Guam with Billy and Steve, and many stations around the country, including the Great Lakes area, where Gail was born, until dad retired from the Navy. They settled down in Minnesota because dad loved hunting and fishing – mom often said she'd have preferred California because of the warm weather - and lived on Hadley Ave. South (at one time Cherry Ave.) for almost 50 years.

Mom was a ball of energy – always doing something – and kept a spotless home. She went back to work when Gail started school and worked in many offices – an office manager for W.T. Grants and after that a Chiropractors office for Dean Evans, then on to the Department of Agriculture in St. Paul. After her official retirement, she returned to sales work at Carson, Pirie, Scott and the local Hallmark store in Cottage Grove. If her health had not declined she would still be working!

Mom loved knitting, and developed interests in crafts – ceramic painting, quilting and painting. She also loved to travel and had dad not been an "I've been there already" type of person, she would have traveled a great deal more. What she is most remembered for is her love of cooking. The Food Channel was always on and she continued to try new recipes and "fine- tuned" her old ones until the very end. Meals were important to her, and sitting at the table and talking was part of that – something she valued from her Italian heritage. You never left her house without something – usually food – for most meals were large and abundant at her house – so you left full and with leftovers for later!

Dorothy was also very generous. She loved giving gifts and an enduring picture for children and grandchildren is Christmas time and an overflowing mound of presents under the tree. She loved to give. It gave her great pleasure to find the perfect gift.

Mom and Dad moved to Presbyterian Homes in 2007 – the first residents in their new facility here in Cottage Grove and enjoyed the last seven years in a lovely apartment with the help of many kind staff and friends. She will be missed and remembered by family and friends.