Dorothy Joan Sterpka

1936 - 2018

Dorothy Joan (Camarra) Sterpka passed away peacefully on December 6, 2018 after a courageous battle with cancer. Born in Hartford on June 14, 1936, to the late Ralph and Mary Camarra, she was predeceased by her sisters, Anna Gagliardo and Esther Murray. She leaves behind her beloved husband Frank R. Sterpka Jr., her children, John Sterpka and partner Sara Muzzey, Mary and Manuel King, Frank R. Sterpka III and Dorothy and Michael Burnett. She also leaves her cherished grandchildren, Christopher and Ashley Sterpka, Samuel and Nathaniel King and Michael, Joseph and Matthew Burnett. In addition, she leaves her loving sisters in law, many dear nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.Dorothy grew up in the close-knit Italian-American neighborhood of Garden Street for which she recently published her memoirs, Garden Street: Memories of a Hartford Girlhood and Death in a Family. She attended St. Joseph Catholic School and in 1954, graduated from Hartford Public High School, She received a BA in English at St. Joseph College, 1958, an MS in English at CCSU and an MSW at UConn in 1999. She met and fell in love with Frank and married on June 27, 1959 at St. Lawrence O' Toole Church. They resided in Burlington for four years before moving permanently to West Hartford. Dorothy taught English for over forty years, beginning as a high school teacher in Stockbridge, Ma and then at Tunxis Community College, UConn, Hartford Branch and CCSU until May 2018. She was one of an inaugural group of lay ministers at St. Peter Claver, a volunteer social worker at The COVE, Center for Grieving Children in West Hartford, a volunteer creative writing teacher at Seabury Adult Learning Center and UConn Adult Learning Center (OLLI). She was a regular contributor to Today's American Catholic. She studied psychodrama and poetry therapy in New Haven and at the Creative Righting Center in N.Y.C. Dorothy was a devoted wife, mother and friend. She was a compassionate, creative listener and to many, a trusted confidant. She was a faithful Catholic, committed to social justice, who appreciated all forms of spirituality. She was an avid reader, a poet and a writer, who in her last days, compiled a book of her poems, Punctuation of Light Verse. She was an enthusiastic traveler and a lifelong student and teacher. Dorothy will be greatly missed.Funeral procession will be Monday, (Dec. 10), 9:15 am from the Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., West Hartford, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial, 10:00 am at St. Peter Claver Church, 47 Pleasant St., West Hartford. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery, West Hartford. Calling hours are Sunday, (Dec. 9), from 3 to 6 pm at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Cove, Center for Grieving Children, West Hartford, CT or WMNR Radio Station in Monroe, CT. Online condolences may be made at www.SheehanHilbornBreen.com