Dena Myerchalk Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Our mother, Dena Myerchalk passed away peacefully in her sleep Tuesday morning, November 17, 2009 at the age of 97. For those of you who only knew her as an elderly lady living with Pat in Sterling Heights, here is a very brief history of her long life. She was born Adina Buraglio on September 3, 1912 in Bessemer, MI. However, another story of her birth has her being born on the Ojibway Indian reservation in Odena, Wisconsin, since her mother and father lived on the reservation for a number of years before moving to Ironwood, Michigan. She grew up in Ironwood and attended Luther L. Wright High School graduating in 1930. She then traveled to Chicago to attend St. Mary of Nazareth Nursing School where she graduated in 1934. She married Frank (Fred) Myerchalk on November 23, 1935 in Detroit where they began their life together. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 our father was drafted into the Navy and shipped over to Hawaii to serve his tour of duty. While our father was overseas mother lived in a trailer park housing the wives and families of the Navy men overseas. After the war they returned to Michigan and had two lovely, well adjusted, amazing children, Frederick & Patricia. After raising these two exceptional children and when father reached retirement age they decided to move from Detroit to the more peaceful setting of their "farm" in North Branch. They lived there many years until one month short of their 60th anniversary father died in a car accident. Dena lived in Sterling Heights the remainder of her years with her daughter Pat and granddaughter Rozalyn whom she adored. Rozalyn and Dena had a very special bond. Although Dena was Rozalyn's grandmother, she was everybody's "nona" (grandmother in Italian). She was also the oldest sister of Dolores and the late Arthur. Dena was an avid Detroit Tigers fan and loved going to Tiger games. She also loved the gatherings of family and friends. And as many of you may remember, at these get togethers she didn't seem to have any problem voicing her thoughts or opinions regardless of how PC it was. We can't forget how she enjoyed and was always ready at these events to salute with her glass of Black Sambuca. So in the future if you might be drinking Black Sambuca or even Mountain Dew (her favorite effervescent), raise your glass in a warm toast of remembering our beloved mother.