DeeDee
Dianne L. “Dee Dee” Tocarchick
October 8, 1944 – November 26, 2018
We are saddened to announce the sudden and untimely passing of a lovely lady of exquisite taste who made everything around her more beautiful.
Dee Dee was born in Elyria Memorial Hospital in 1944, the third of three girls born to George and Olive DeWald. Her early years were spent in rural family homes on Hawk Road in Columbia Station and chiefly Durkee Road in Eaton Township, surrounded by turkeys, a pet steer named Willy Lump Lump, chickens, and a grumpy sheep who frequently knocked Dee Dee’s tricycle over.
Dee Dee learned to milk a cow at age four, and frequented the ice skating pond behind the house, mastering the difficult skill of skating backwards to the exclusion of being able to skate forward. Dee Dee attended the small Eaton Township Local School with grades 1 through 12 under one roof. George was a truck-driver, then homebuilder, and later an oil painter, wood-carver, and garlic entrepreneur; Olive was a housewife; during these years life was quiet and rural and largely revolved around family and home.
In 1956 when Dee Dee was 11 years old, her parents moved the family, including Dee Dee and sister Phyllis (minus oldest sister Dottie who stayed in Ohio), to Bath, Maine. George renounced all worldly goods to become a Jehovah’s Witness Special Pioneer, closing his homebuilding business and his hardware store to dedicate his life to teaching the gospel. These formative years in Dee Dee’s life were very lean and very difficult. The family lived in a small trailer and all energies were focused on religious activities.
Dee Dee graduated from Morse High School in Rockland, Maine in June, 1962. Though Dee Dee did not retain her association with the Jehovah’s Witness church as an adult, she retained a deep love of the iconic beauty and rugged dignity of the state of Maine for the rest of her life.
Now 18 and emancipated, Dee Dee returned to Ohio in 1963, joining older sister Dottie’s family in Fairview Park, OH, and earning secretarial positions at Ohio Title Corporation and then General Electric Credit Corporation. That same year, Dee Dee met and married Ted Tocarchick in Lakewood, OH. Dee Dee and Ted were married for 27 years, enjoying many adventures together before divorcing in 1990 in Southern California.
In 1967, Dee Dee got a job at General Motors, beginning a long, successful and high-paid career there in administration, marketing and later as Business Manager. Dee Dee worked for the Pontiac and later Chevrolet divisions, beginning in the Cleveland area, and later enjoying multiple transfers to Southern California, Michigan, and back to Southern California again with the company. Her vast duties included coordinating motor sports events, managing special event vehicles and more. She always got a thrill from the little perks like driving the pace car around world-class rack tracks, and providing hospitality to celebrity drivers.
During the early married years in Ohio, Dee Dee always found time for fun. And for speed. Dee Dee zipped around Northeastern Ohio on the couple’s motorcycle and Corvette, and around Lake Erie every weekend on their speedboat. They traveled extensively across the US and Hawaii, and enjoyed a time share for many years in Fort Lauderdale. Dee Dee also discovered that she had a good eye and real talent for home décor and entertaining, and during these years developed those talents with stunningly-decorated homes in Lakewood, North Ridgeville and finally their Meridian condo on Cleveland’s Gold Coast.
In the early 1990s, Dee Dee was transferred by GM to Thousand Oaks, CA. What followed was not only a very successful period in Dee Dee’s career but also a new career in real estate investing in what was a hot California market, constantly buying and flipping homes using her prodigious decorating talent to increase the value. Dee Dee loved creating beautiful spaces and scenes, and she was good at it!
In 2000, Dee Dee took early retirement from GM to move back to Olmsted Falls and help care for her ailing mother Olive. She and Olive lived in the Columbia Park development where Dee Dee entertained many friends in her spacious home and outdoor porch. Articles were written about Dee Dee’s garden and patio.
After Olive’s passing, Dee Dee felt the irresistible lure of the lake and returned to the Gold Coast enjoying the lake view from the 7th floor of the Carlyle. Oh, how Dee Dee loved sitting on her balcony looking at the lake.
Dee Dee was an avid patron and volunteer with Clague Playhouse, serving on the play production team as bookholder for many years. She also served as hostess for opening night receptions, and wrote a regular recipe column in their quarterly Spotlight newsletter. She was a member of Rocky River Coterie Club. And member since 2003 of an active book club which fed Dee Dee’s love of reading.
Dee Dee loved Maine, especially Reid State Park, lobsters, Boothbay Harbor, seagulls, and Portland Headlight. She dreamed of sailing the Victory Chimes in Camden. She loved Royal Caribbean cruise lines and went on many Caribbean cruises on that luxury line.
Dee Dee loved fine china and flamingos, Tiffany lamps and elaborate porcelain Christmas villages. Her home was a treasure trove of delightful objects in seemingly effortless arrangements driven by Dee Dee’s exquisite sense of color, juxtaposition, and taste.
In her last years, Dee Dee developed a great interest in the hi-jinks and the preservation of the great African reticulated giraffe. She was a dedicated sponsor of the giraffes April and Taj at the Animal Adventure Park of Harpursville, NY.
Dee Dee is survived by her two sisters Dottie Palazzo of Westlake, OH and Phyllis Wells of Augusta, ME; Niece Robin Palazzo Whitney (Jim) of Park City, UT; Grand-nieces Grace Whitney of Seattle, WA and Claire Whitney of Los Angeles, CA. Cousins Jeff Rade (Andrea) of Berea, OH and Jason (Stacey) Rade of Strongsville, OH; and Uncle John Rade (Barbara) of Sarasota, FL.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her grandmother Florence Eldridge; and brothers-in-law Bob Wells and Ralph Palazzo.
A memorial celebration of Dee Dee’s life is planned for a date to be announced.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested in Dee Dee’s name to her favorite non-profits: Denver Zoo, Attn: Adopt a Giraffe, 2300 Steele Street, Denver, CO 80205-4899 or Clague Playhouse, 1371 Clague Rd., Westlake, OH 44145
Dee Dee died of a sudden heart attack. She was not aware that she had heart problems. Her symptoms were different than male heart attack. Dee Dee’s family urges all women to be tested and aware.
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