Mrs. Stephanie A. Winslow

Mrs. Stephanie A. Winslow, of Pembroke Pines, FL, formerly of Pittsfield, MA, passed away on Thursday, April 11, 2024, just one month after celebrating her 85th birthday. Born in Pittsfield, MA, on March 12, 1939, daughter of the late Steven and Dorothy Stefinak Spasyk, she graduated from Pittsfield High School with the class of 1956. She later earned her associate’s degree from Berkshire Community College. Stephanie is survived by her beloved husband of 66 years, James Winslow. They were married on February 15th, 1958 at St Charles Church in Pittsfield MA. She leaves behind her children, Debi Levy and her husband Ralph of Ft. Lauderdale FL, James Winslow and his wife Denise of Averill Park NY and Kate Winslow of Pittsfield, MA. Stephanie also leaves her grandchildren Ashley and Amber Winslow of East Greenbush NY, Natan, Joel and his wife Aisling Rice and Gabriel Levy all of Ft Lauderdale, Steven Dwyer and his wife Lauren of Pittsfield and Lauderdale by the Sea FL and Aileen Archambault of Pittsfield. She is also survived by her great grand daughter Ava Winslow Smith of East Greenbush NY. Stephanie also leaves her sister Paula Rivers and her husband Richard, brother in law Bill Winslow and his wife Ann as well as many nieces and nephews, to whom she was fondly known as Aunt Teppie. For the majority of her career, Stephanie was employed by the Pittsfield GE Credit Union as a comtroller. It was there that she dedicated 15 years until her career was cut short in the early spring of 1986 due to a stroke. Stephanie enjoyed square dancing with her husband, blueberry picking, tanning on her patio, gardening in her flowerbeds and canning vegetables from their garden on Pecks Road, most of this ended up on the table for Sunday dinners with many family members attending. Stephanie would often enjoy a midnight snack of crab legs with her son Jimmy that he had taken home from his kitchen job at The West Shore Club. She also enjoyed making pies for Thanksgiving dinner and served them proudly--even with the cat paw prints on them! Stephanie’s favorite dinner, however, was hosting Christmas Eve. Reflecting on her Ukrainian heritage, her day started early preparing her borscht in her giant pressure cooker and the daunting task of hundreds of handmade pedaheh in three flavors-kapusta, potato and blueberry. The night would always end with each family member opening one gift (alternating youngest to oldest each year). Holidays were her favorite and she decorated for each and every one and starting for the next one the night one ended. The stroke, forever changing her life, only strengthened her love for her family. Her new normal of being paralyzed on her right side and her speech impaired, she was determined to regain her strength to walk down the aisle of her daughter Debi’s wedding and to hold each of her new grandchildren. She was able to continue her Christmas Eve dinners passing on her ways to her daughter Kate, often folding the dough with one hand at the same time checking on her husband peeling the beets. Eventually, her granddaughter Amber took over the tradition, with Stephanie’s approval. Throughout the years she still had her hair done on Fridays, followed by a long car ride, and dinner at the Country Charm with her forever date, her husband Jim. On those Friday nights, her grandson Steven often making a guest appearance. Stephanie loved to shop, often clipping out pictures from the Sunday papers and taping them on sticky notes (she loved sticky notes), and then heading out in a scavenger hunt type shopping expedition. One of her favorites was bringing her granddaughter Ashley sneaker shopping for the new school year. Although her speech was somewhat jumbled at times, she could get her thoughts across with sticky notes, a pointy finger and a stare that eventually led to “yes, yes, yes”. She could amazingly sing along with her favorite country music stars, inspiring private concerts with her and her granddaughter Aileen and Patsy Cline. Her passion was her family. She could often be seen by her grandchildren, a mile away wheeling down any field, court, rink, pool or track in her motorized wheelchair- orange flag flailing in the wind. She loved to sit on the deck of the lake house with her dog Snuggs at her side watching the grandkids kids swim, waters ski and tube. Still enjoying family dinners all summer long, she watched over them at the end of the night at a roaring fire pit, tapping her husband Jim on the shoulder, pointing and giggling at them. Eventually migrating to South Florida permanently giving up snowbird status, she eagerly awaited her visits from her grandsons-Gabriel to hear of his latest adventure while surprising her with worldly trinkets, Joel to help with his grandfather’s latest technological mishaps somehow just flicking a switch or hitting a button which just left her shaking her head and Natan sharing his hockey stories but mostly heading out on his bike in Weston Hills to find his grandmother because she wore out the battery on her wheelchair. She earned her “tv room” where she’d sit watching and rewatching her favorite black and white westerns and Murder She Wrote with her nightly glass of wine (which her husband watered down!) and her ageless cat Spring on her lap. It’s here she fine-tuned her selective hearing skills but always heard the phone ring knowing it was her great granddaughter Ava. Stephanie passed on her love of cooking, gardening, animals, reading and travel to her family and taught them about inclusion without them even knowing. Funeral Notice: Funeral services for Stephanie A. Winslow will be Friday, April 19, 2024, at 1pm at the Dwyer Funeral Home, 776 North Street, Pittsfield MA 01201. To view a livestream of the service, please visit https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=5bbb14ba-726a-48bb-a7b6-244bdf5bd88b Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery. There will be an hour of visitation at the funeral home directly prior to the service, from 12noon to 1pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in Stephanie’s memory can be made to the Berkshire Humane Society in care of the Dwyer Funeral Home.

Mrs. Stephanie A. Winslow

March 12, 1939 - April 11, 2024