Visitation

Monday June 10, 2024

Landmark Funeral Home

6:00pm-9:00pm

Celebration of Life 

 7:00pm 

Mass of the Resurrection

Tuesday June 11, 2024

Nativity Catholic Church

11:00am

Please wear vibrant colors for our incredible Mom!!

Alvina D. Wozniak, 96 years young, of Hollywood, passed away peacefully in her sleep

on June 2, 2024. Alvina born in Buffalo, NY to Sophie and Bert Dolata, moved to Hollywood,

Florida in 1964 with her husband and daughters.

Known to family and friends as Vina (or Vinka), she was a most vibrant, energetic, and

independent woman. Born at the beginning of the Great Depression, she attended Public

School #11, also working at her parents’ fruit and vegetable stand on the Broadway Market.

Valedictorian of her beloved Villa Maria Academy, Class of 1945, at her class reunion, she told

her favorite nun, Sister Pachomia, that from what they taught her there—shorthand, typing—she

was able to make a living her whole life. She had attended Business College as well, living

through World War II, religiously supporting the troops.

Vina and Lenny married in 1948 after meeting at the town dance hall the Town of Evans

on Lake Erie in Angola, New York. It was a whirlwind romance, beautiful wedding followed by a

honeymoon at the Cardozo Hotel in Miami Beach and Havana, where a cab driver informed

them of a pending revolution!! They lived and worked in Buffalo for three years, welcoming

Cindy into the fold before settling in the suburb of West Seneca and adding Suzie to complete

their family. They were active in their community, Vina in the PTA and Lennie with the Volunteer

Fire Department, as well as their parish, Saint William’s Church.

Her people skills were legendary, starting with the Workers Compensation Board in

Buffalo and for Sears, Roebuck and Company in West Seneca. Upon relocating to Hollywood,

she became a clerk for the Hollywood Police Department, making lifelong friends while working

diligently with detectives on notable cases like the Murph the Surf jewelry heist. From there, she

moved to City Hall as the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Finance, a position she held

for 37 years. Vina was honored to receive the Diamond Service Award from the City of

Hollywood for her “dedicated service excellence to the city and to the enrichment of the daily

lives of the citizens and fellow employees of Hollywood.” She focused on her daughters and her

career after becoming a widow at a very young age, joining the Widow and Widowers group at

her parish, Nativity Catholic Church and eventually compassionately counseled new members.

Anyone who met her enjoyed how she welcomed you with open arms, kindness, and good

conversations.

Vina was confident in her role as a single mom, seeing her girls through college,

careers, marriage, and families. Always a social butterfly, she attended city sponsored events,

like dances at then Hollywood Recreation Center or bus trips to special events with friends.

She enjoyed cooking Italian food, especially rigatoni with meatballs for Sunday meals with the

family, teaching her girls family recipes, even being featured as the Cook of the Week in the

local newspaper, the Hollywood Sun-Tattler. She loved dancing, having enjoyed tap and ballet

as a young girl with her twin and listening to the music of Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

She held a special bond with her grand and great grand children, proud to be their Grammy.

A longtime parishioner of Nativity Catholic Church, Vina is pre-deceased by her husband

Leonard; twin sister, Dolores (Lalle); and her brother Berchie (Bertram). She is survived by her

daughters Cynthia (Daniel) O’Linn, Suzanne (Glenn) Dodge, grandchildren Meaghan (Charles)

Sano, Timothy O’Linn, Nicholas Dodge (Dr. Logan Bearden), Katie (Chad) Lariviere, Dr. Chelsea

(Dr. Tomas) Solano and Ryan Dodge and great grandchildren Michael Sano, Elizabeth Sano, Jacob

Lariviere, Thiago Solano and Alessandra Solano; and devoted nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Monday June 10th, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. with a Celebration of Life Service

at 7:00 p.m., all at Landmark Funeral Home, 4200 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, FL.

Funeral Mass of the Resurrection will be Tuesday, June 11th, 11:00 a.m. at Nativity Catholic

Church, 5220 Johnson Street, Hollywood, FL.

Please wear vibrant colors for our incredible Mom!!

Donations may be made to Villa Maria College, Buffalo, New York at

https://www.villa.edu/support/#donate

in honor of Alvina Dolata Wozniak

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