Emily Ruth Dolak

May 20, 1931 to May 16, 2015

Emily Ruth Dolak was born Emily Ruth Evanoski in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

She graduated from New Castle High School and attended Community College of

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Emily married Richard Paul Dolak in New

Castle, Pennsylvania on May 9, 1953. Born to Emily were six children:

Denise Huntington of Lake Worth, Florida; Jeanette Somers of Washington,

D.C.; Diane Dolak of Washington, D.C.; Richard Dolak of North Reddington

Beach, Florida; Janice Dolak of Martinsburg, West Virginia; and John Dolak

of La Mesa, California.

After several years of Richard's job transfers the family settled in Silver

Spring, Maryland in 1963, where he worked in Washington D.C. for the

Postmaster General, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and then

accounting firms Ernst & Young and Coopers & Lybrand. In the 1970's Emily

began a long career of sales management in the retail/fashion industry at

Sak's Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

In 1977 the family moved to Los Angeles where they later lived in Pacific

Palisades. Emily worked for Yves Saint Laurent in Beverly Hills. In 1982

Richard tragically suffered a heart attack and passed. Emily maintained the

household for the two youngest children to graduate from high school and

began working at Sak's Fifth Avenue in Woodland Hills where she managed the

fur salon for the French designer Revillon. While working there she met

Judge Stephen Petersen who later became her partner. Until finally retiring

around 1996, Emily worked and lived at San Diego, Palm Springs and Ventura,

California, working for Neiman Marcus and Sharif.

Emily was a spirited and vivacious woman who loved her family deeply. She

greatly enjoyed playing tennis, watching her sons and grandsons play sports,

and music, especially patriotic and country music. She was a devoted Roman

Catholic and active member of local churches where she lived throughout her

life.

She was preceded in death by her loving parents Michael and Gertrude

Evanoski, her brothers Edward Evans, Joseph Evanoski, Dr. Leo Evanoski,

Raymond Evanoski, William Evanoski, and sisters Martha Serwatka, and Bernice

Sylak. In addition to her children and Judge Petersen, she is survived by

nine grandchildren: Erin, Tyler, Patrick, Sam, Jack, Seth, Katie, Harmon and

Robert, her sister, Clara Gittings of Moorestown, New Jersey, and her

brother, Walter Evanoski, of Warren, Ohio. Emily will be interred alongside

her husband at the Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California.

There will be a service nearby.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the

American Heart Association or Catholic Charities.