Felicia "Dolly" Rose (DeCorleto) Stanizzi

Born on July 5, 1927, in Hartford, Connecticut, Dolly was the daughter of the late Theresa (Cirone-DeCorleto) DeFeo and Leonard Anthony DeCorleto. Dolly is predeceased by her younger sister, Mildred “Lit” (DeCorleto) Aiello and her husband Augustino (Gus) Aiello.

Dolly and her beloved husband, John William (Giovaninno Emmanuel) Stanizzi were married for 64 years before his passing in 2011. They were married on October 25, 1947, and the couple has one son, John Leonard Stanizzi of Coventry, Connecticut.

Dolly’s life was deeply rooted in her Catholic faith, and she was a devoted parishioner of St. Anthony’s and St. Patrick-St. Anthony’s churches in Hartford, and finally a long-standing member in the parish of the Church of St. Mary’s in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Dolly found great solace in her daily prayers, praying the Rosary and a litany of other prayers, all in the names of the people around her whom she loved.

Dolly loved to work as hard as she loved to play. She spent twenty years working at Royal Typewriter and thirty-five years at Hartford Distributors, where she made many loving and life-long friends. Dolly retired from Hartford Distributors in 2009 at 82 years old.

In her earlier years athletics played a major role in Dolly’s life. She was a UCONN Women’s Basketball fan, she loved the New York Giants, the New York Yankees, and was an avid golf fan with a particular affinity for Fred Couples. Dolly was also a fine golfer in her own right. She and her husband, John, played in tournaments every weekend all around Connecticut and were long standing members of Millbrook and Airways Golf Courses.

Dolly loved traveling, especially to Jamaica with their dear friends Ellie and Clark. She also loved going on cruises and spending long, slow days at the “real” ocean. She loved listening to and feeling the balm of the surf while reading a favorite book. In fact, reading was a passion of Dolly’s. She would devour book after book, to the point where it became difficult to suggest a book because she had already read “everything.”

In her recent years, Dolly loved watching Dancing With The Stars and America’s Got Talent. She looked forward to sitting outside in the sunshine and to her annual beach trips with her granddaughters where she would soak up as much sun as she could.

Besides her only son, Johnnie and his wife, Carol of Coventry, Dolly also leaves four loving grandchildren, the twins, Erin Stanizzi-Hart and Jason Stanizzi, as well as Alison Stanizzi-Butler, and Jonathan Stanizzi, and their spouses, Patrick Hart, Jessica Stanizzi, Patrick Butler, and Jill Stanizzi.

Dolly was blessed with nine great grandchildren: Taylor Stanizzi, Mikalah Stanizzi-Bortz and her spouse Nicholas, Janae Stanizzi, Michael Stanizzi and his spouse Joylissa, Zachary and Samantha Hart, Jonah Stanizzi, and Elijah and Raelle Stanizzi.

She leaves four great-great granddaughters who affectionately called her GGG - they are Braelynne, Kaiah and Mo Stanizzi-Bortz and Odessa Stanizzi.

She also leaves her niece Sandra (Stanizzi) Pezzente and her late husband, Joseph, her niece Rose Marie (Aiello) Gianni and spouse her spouse, Vincent, and her nephew Christopher Aiello and his spouse, Amy.

Felicia’s family will receive relatives and friends on Thursday (March 26, 2026) at the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, 30 Carter Street, East Hartford from 9:30 am – 10:30 am followed by a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 11 am at St. Mary’s Church of North American Martyrs Parish, Main Street/Maplewood Avenue, East Hartford. Burial will be at Silver Lane Cemetery, East Hartford. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Felicia’s name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of CT, 10 Executive Drive, Suite 202, Farmington, CT 06032. For on-line expressions of sympathy to the family, please visit www.desopoeh.com