Dorothy (Galary) Kozlowski

Dorothy Kozlowski, 91, of Longmeadow, passed away peacefully of natural causes at her home surrounded by family on Friday, December 4, 2020.  She was preceded by her husband in 2015.

She was born on September 16th, 1929, in Holyoke, MA. She was the youngest of three children of Anthony and Victoria Galary.  She graduated from Holyoke High School on June 16th 1946.  During her senior year in high school, she served as Vice-President of the Student Council and was voted best looking, most popular, and most pleasing smile. After high school, she attended Westbrook Junior College in Portland, Maine, where she belonged to the Riding Club, Spanish Club, Fencing Club and House Volleyball.  She graduated on June 6th 1948, with an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts.  After college, she worked as bookkeeper, stenographer and secretary at Monsanto Company in Springfield, MA, 1954-1955; Royal McBee Corp. in West Hartford, CT, 1955-1961; and Longmeadow Public Schools in Longmeadow, MA, 1974-1989.  In 1960, she became a Certified Professional Secretary.  Certification was a twelve hour exam in areas of human relations, business law, business administration, secretarial accounting, etc.  While at Royal McBee Corp., she worked on a project that utilized a new concept in lighting that was installed in R&D that diffused light evenly and eliminated all shadows.  She handled the communications and paperwork for the project which was featured in an article published in the February 1956 edition of Royal News.  She enjoyed ballroom dancing which was how she met her loving husband Kazimierz Kozlowski.  They were married for 59 years since 1955, until he passed away on June 8th, 2015.

For a woman of her era, she was very independent in taking care of her family, driving her own car, contributing to family income, and still being home for kids and family.  She enjoyed reading the newspaper, and saving articles and coupons for her family.  Her various hobbies over the years included sewing, knitting, crocheting and cross-country skiing.  In the summer, she and her husband enjoyed vacationing on Cape Cod where she played with her children on the beach and swam.  After retirement, she enjoyed spending time with her loving husband traveling around the world or going to local arts/cultural affairs.  Some of the places she visited were:  Hawaii, Poland, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, India, China, Italy, England, France, Greece, Istanbul, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Budapest, Malta, Austria, Switzerland, and The Grand Canyon.  Birthdays and holiday traditions were an important part of her life.  She would make her famously decadent “Julia Child’s” chocolate cake for birthdays and her delicious Christmas cookies and candies.  She played Christmas carols on her piano with the family surrounding her.

As written in her high school year book, “to know her is to love her,” throughout her life, turned out to be true.   She valued good manners, having an honorable character, and gratitude to others.    She always made it a point to get to her front door to wave good bye to visiting family members until her last days.  May she rest in peace with her loving husband in Heaven.

She is survived by her loving children:  Gregory Kozlowski and his wife Yuliana Kuswandi, of Palmer, and Danusia Lokii, of Palmer.

Upon Dorothy’s request, a private cremation will take place followed by spreading of her ashes.  There are no calling hours.  Mitchell Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. https://www.mitchellcofuneralhome.com/

In lieu of flowers, donations in Dorothy’s name may be made to, Alzheimer’s Association https://www.alz.org/

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