Dolores Angeline Chartier

Dolores Angelina Chartier (Galante), 85, passed away peacefully on December 31, 2025, in Mesa, Arizona. She was born on August 25, 1940, in Glen Cove, New York, and spent most of her life in Maine, a place she truly called home. In her later years, she retired to a small cabin by a lake, where she found comfort in quiet mornings, nature, and the life she had built. She enjoyed feeding the hummingbirds and would get so excited when her birds came back.

Dolores loved her Maine summers, but winters were meant for adventure. For many years, she and her beloved partner, Bill, traveled each winter to warmer places, escaping the cold and making memories along the way. When flying to Costa Rica was no longer possible, she turned those winters into long road trips from Maine to Arizona, always making time to stop in Oklahoma City to visit her daughter Donna, her granddaughter Angeline, her husband Dan and great granddaughter Adley. Those stops were never rushed, they were part of the journey, part of the love. After Bill’s passing, Dolores moved permanently to Maricopa, Arizona, to live with her eldest daughter, Debbie, where she spent her remaining years surrounded by love, family, and familiar voices. In Arizona her adventures did not end she would take numerous weekend trips exploring Arizona with her daughter Debbie and great granddaughter Layla. Dolores’ early life was marked by hardship. Her father immigrated from Italy, and her mother was a first-generation American. Growing up Italian during that time came with struggle, including being forbidden to learn their native language. When her mother lost her sight, Dolores and her youngest sister, Jeannette were placed in an orphanage at a young age bouncing from foster home to foster home—an experience that shaped her strength, independence, and resilience. Born during World War II, Dolores entered a world defined by sacrifice and uncertainty. She grew up in the shadow of war and post-war hardship, during a time of rationing, strict social expectations, and limited opportunities—especially for children of immigrants. Over her lifetime, she witnessed the Civil Rights Movement, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War, as well as the changing role of women in society. She lived through economic upheavals, cultural revolutions, and national tragedies, including the attacks of September 11th, and later the global COVID-19 pandemic. She saw the world move from radios and handwritten letters to television, computers, and smartphones, adapting again and again as each generation brought change. Through it all, Dolores remained grounded, carrying the endurance of her Italian roots and a deep devotion to family that became her greatest legacy. As a young woman, Dolores served briefly in the military, something she was quietly but deeply proud of. She will be remembered most for her stories, especially the magical one about the little elves who used to visit her mother. To her grandchildren, those stories felt real and wonderful. When she visited them in California, she arrived with shoes and purses from the factory where she worked and made sure every visit included a trip to Toys “R” Us, where each child could pick out something special. Those moments, simple, joyful, and full of love, have become treasured memories that time will never take away.

Dolores was preceded in death by her parents, Rossina (Rose) Elizabeth Moccia and Rocco Galante; her siblings Nicholas Carmen (Sonny) Galante, Rose Marie Scott, Jeannette Violet Galante, Louise Blanton, Yolanda Malouin, and Carmella Elsner; her lifelong partner Burdette William Van Orman (Bill); and her former husband John Chartier. She is survived by her children Debra (Debbie) Reed, Donna Chartier, and Dr. John Chartier Jr. She leaves behind a family that spans generations and carries her spirit forward: grandchildren Tonya Burkhart, Shevon Chartier, Angeline Presson, Crystal Pray, Nicholas Reed, and Shannon Reed; great-grandchildren William (Billy) Ramirez, Madelynn Burkhart, Sean Andrade, Jesse Sullivan, Javon White, Jaxon White, Adley Presson, Kaylee Ranese, Ally Ranese, Layla Sorensen, and Sylvia Mark; and great-great-grandchildren Emmitt Regan-Ramirez and Veronica Regan-Ramirez, with another on the way, also by several nieces and nephews too many to list.

Dolores was the quiet center of her family—the storyteller, the survivor, the keeper of memories. She was strong in ways that did not need recognition and loving in ways that shaped generations. She was the last connection we had to a generation that had gone before her. A bygone era of road trips, family visits, making memories, laughter filled nights of cousins camping together in the front yard and parents playing card games in the house. I think over the years as she slowly lost the ones she had grown up with she also lost a little bit of her joy along with them. Be not afraid when you meet them in heaven Grandma. I know you were embraced with love and warmth. This body, the pain, the joy, the achievements and failures, this life we have here on earth is but only temporary, Heaven is forever. In Heaven is where we shall meet again but until then Grandma Chartier, Mom, Grandma Grandma, Great Great Grandma, Auntie Dolores......

We will miss you every day and carry your love with us always.