Florence Ray "Flicka" DiPersio

Florence "Flicka" Ray DiPersio, 87, died peacefully at her home in Sarasota, Florida on September 23, 2023 with family at her side.
She is predeceased by her brother and his wife, Charles Thomas and Cynthia Ray, her sister, Helen Louise Ray Kennedy, and parents, Eunice Wheeler Ray and Charles Ralph Ray. She is survived by family she cherished, including her children, Alane Rapazza, Kenneth DiPersio, Robert DiPersio, Jr., and Leslie Sheehan, and many grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Flicka grew up in the Mount Hood neighborhood of Melrose, Massachusetts, where she and lifelong friend Norma DeLouis Gorman would regularly climb the Slayton Tower, go sledding on the hill near the Mount Hood Golf Club, and ice skate on First Pond. She later married and moved to Newtown, Connecticut to raise her family before moving to Sarasota in 1977. After Norma moved to Sarasota in 1996, the two would bop around town together, going shopping, to the theater, movies, bookstores, museums, and on many other adventures.
Flicka loved taking care of her house and yard, reading, playing games, crafting, solving logic problems and Sudoku. Known as the "Puzzle Lady" at her favorite used bookstore, Brant's Books, Flicka enjoyed countless hours making jigsaw puzzles. She loved animals, particularly her Lhasa Apso, Tibet, of 14 years. Above all, she enjoyed the many visits with family and friends who visited Sarasota over the years, and she always made everyone feel welcome and loved. Florence was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend and will be dearly missed by all who knew her.
A Celebration of Life will take place on October 27, 2023 at 11:00 AM at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, Massachusetts.
Written in loving memory by Raychel Rapazza