Dolores Reis of Trinity, FL passed peacefully on November 7, 2018 at home after a brief illness. She passed just after sunrise, her favorite time of day, surrounded by her family. Dolores was born to Charles and Frances Rimmelin on January 26, 1930 in Toledo, Ohio. Dolores was educated in Toledo, attending Ursuline High School and Toledo University. She also attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO. Before leaving for Stephens College at age 17, Dolores met Richard “Dick” Reis. In 1950, Dolores married Dick in Toledo, before moving to Perrysburg, OH in 1952, where they raised their seven children. Following Dick’s retirement from Gulf Oil, Dick and Dee moved to Largo before settling in Trinity. At age 42, Dolores became an LPN. She enjoyed the challenge of going through the training with 18-year-olds while juggling her duties as homemaker and wife with four children still at home. As a practicing LPN, she enjoyed working with patients and medical staff; as she wrote, “it helped me be a better person, to empathize with patients, and to forget at times the worries over seven children.”
Family was everything to Dolores. Her only wish when receiving her unexpected diagnosis just 2 weeks prior to her passing, was to be with her children. Dee was a beloved figure in her neighborhood, with a routine walking her dog, Lola, by which neighbors could set their clocks. Her daily interactions with her neighbors built a lasting bond which spanned dozens of years. The outpouring of comfort and generosity from those neighbors has been incredible in the short time since her diagnosis. In addition to her love of family and neighbors, Dolores loved to paint and to read.
