Clara "Dolly" J (Kilinski) Raffele

Clara “Dolly” Raffele Clara J. Raffele, 85, passed away peacefully at home after a long illness, surrounded by her loving family, on March 27, 2017. She was born on August 10, 1931, the daughter of the late Clara Kilinski of Amsterdam, NY. She was nicknamed “Dolly of the south side”, because she used to liked to sing and dance from a very young age. Dolly attended Wilbur H. Lynch High School and lived in Amsterdam until she married the late Steve Raffele Jr of Schenectady, NY. Widowed with 4 children at the age of 42, Dolly went to work at Ellis Hospital, where she became the OR Secretary until her retirement in 1996. She loved working with the people at Ellis where she became known as “Clare”, and was named employee of the year. She has enjoyed true and lasting friendships from her time at Ellis Hospital. Dolly loved baking and cooking, and her banana bread and chicken soup are world renowned, locally as well as in Florence, Italy, where she visited many times. She was a very generous and caring person, always bringing her baked goods to visits with friends and family. She also loved poetry and has written and shared many poems that were inspired by happy as well as tragic events. Dolly was a true fighter and a stubborn Polack. She had a happy independent spirit and was extremely fun, very sassy and always a great pleasure to be with. Dolly is survived by her 4 children; Katherine Raffele, Stephanie Raffele, Roseanne Deloreto and Stephen John Raffele III, her 2 grandchildren; Jennifer (Gabe) Rounds and Stephen John Raffele iV, her great granddaughter; Kinley Clare Rounds, her loving sister in law; Amelia (Raffele) Dufel, her sister; Aldona (Kilinski) Ruggiero and her brother; Leonard Kilinski, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews. The family would like to give special thanks to Dolly’s recent caregivers; Kim Wooster, Pat Tennant and Darlene Smith, Nurse Rebecca DeMeo and a very very special thanks to her wonderful VNA nurse; Sonia Dickerman. A memorial service will be held at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society at cancer.org.