October 1, 1960 - April 14, 2022
The beautiful life of Lynne Marie Doyal (née Poplawski) came to a peaceful end in the very place she had spent a lifetime creating, tucked inside her warm and welcoming home and held in the arms of her loving family. To know Lynne was to love her. She devoted her life to creating a home where the doors always felt open to family, friends, and anyone néeding a place to call home.
Lynne Marie Poplawski was born on October 1, 1960, at Holy Cross Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, to parents John Michael Poplawski and Mary Constance Poplawski (née Bednarski). She was baptized by her beloved uncle, Father Mitchell Bednarski, the first of 30 grandchildren in the Poplawski and Bednarski families and the eldest of four siblings. Lynne enjoyed a happy childhood surrounded by her close-knit family, first in Hamtramck and Warren, Michigan, before moving to Grosse Pointe City in 1969. She attended Detroit Country Day and the Grosse Pointe Academy, where her father served as Founding Headmaster, before graduating from Grosse Pointe South High School in 1978. Lynne attended Michigan State University, earning a degree from the College of Communications, Arts, and Sciences in 1982. After graduation, she worked in communications for the Construction Association of Michigan and later Stanley Kaplan, Macy's, and others. Still, she always felt her most important calling was as a loving wife and mother.
That journey began in a US History class at Grosse Pointe High School, where Lynne met the love of her life, Greg Doyal. They started seriously dating while attending Michigan State University together and were married at the Grosse Pointe Academy Chapel on a hot summer day, on August 27, 1983.
In 1989, Greg and Lynne moved to Lambertville, Michigan, where they soon welcomed their son Michael Thomas in May of 1990. The same year they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan, and soon welcomed their daughter, Emily Lynne, in September of 1992. In 1999, they moved to Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.
Always quick to a smile and a laugh, Lynne loved creating elaborate joy-filled experiences for her family and their friends, creating adventures, planning holiday celebrations and parties, and organizing craft projects. She was a constant source of support for her children’s many interests and she actively encouraged them to grow and try new things. She adored spending time with Greg and the kids, especially near the water, which Lynne considered her place of renewal and peace. This love of water drew her to boating on Lake St Clair, visits to Mackinac Island, tours of Upper Peninsula waterfalls, looking for sea glass on the beaches of Orange Beach, AL, and frequent summer visits to one of her favorite places, the Poplawski family cottage in Lexington, Michigan. One of the most memorable days of the year for Lynne was the annual Labor Day picnic in Lexington, enjoying time with her extended family and friends.
Nothing Lynne created was ever half-finished. That included her boundless love and care for others. Lynne's legacy on this earth will be of her gracious gifts of love, warmth, and care to those around her, which they now carry in their hearts.
Lynne was preceded in death by her grandparents, John and Harriet Poplawski, Thaddeus and Helen Bednarski, and her father, John Michael Poplawski. She is survived by her devoted husband of 38 years, Gregory Nelson Doyal, her loving children; Michael Doyal (Alexis), Emily Brenk (Griffin), and granddaughter Eloise Lynne Brenk, her mother Mary Constance Poplawski, and siblings Lisa Buis, Cary Poplawski (Antoinette) and John Poplawski, (Laura) in addition to the extended Doyal and Poplawski family, many aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and endless friends.
On Thursday, April 21, a visitation will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at A.H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods. A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, April 22 at 10:00 a.m. at St Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 22620 Mack Ave, in St. Claire Shores, Michigan, with a time of visitation beginning at 9:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Salvation Army Eastern Michigan Division Bed and Bread Program.
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