Opal D. "Danie" Zeleski

Opal (Dianne) "Danie" Zeleski, age 82, peacefully passed into eternal life at Whispering Pines in Plover on Sunday, March 12th. Born on September 7, 1940 to Raymond Tyler and Opal Grace Morris (nee Darrah) in Oroville, WA, she was known as Dianne for her entire life by her west coast family and friends.

Since early childhood Dianne was raised by her mother and stepfather, Stan Cook, who she knew as 'Dad'. In June of 1958 Dianne graduated from Omak, WA High School and four months later entered the US Army where she was trained as a medical specialist. While in the Army, Dianne picked up the nickname of Danie by which she has been known ever since by all Wisconsin family and close friends. After Army medic training, Danie was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS where she worked in the installation's hospital.

While at Fort Leavenworth, she met the love of her life, Fred Zeleski. Danie and Fred were married on August 24, 1959.

It was Fred who introduced Danie to Catholicism and her greatest loves of all, the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary. For the rest of her life, Danie personified an unwavering devotion to the tenets of Catholicism. After the Army, Danie and Fred settled in Stevens Point where they had the good fortune of raising three healthy children.

Danie was a full-time mom to their children for the first several years of their marriage. After their youngest child entered school, Danie entered the workforce. Danie was a trailblazer where she worked in what were, at that time, traditionally male occupations. After a few years working as a custodian for the Stevens Point School District, she was hired on as the first female employee of the Stevens Point Parks Department. In 1979, Danie began a 21-year career with the US Postal Service where she was the first female city letter carrier for the Stevens Point Post Office. Shortly after retiring from the Postal Service in 2000, Danie became a full-time in-home care giver for Fred as he endured the ravages of ALS. After Fred's passing in 2005, Danie found fulfillment through a number of volunteer activities and daily mass attendance. She was a generous donor to numerous worthy causes. Danie became known by her legal first name of Opal by many people whom she first encountered in the workplace, volunteer settings, at church and by the staff at her last residence of Whispering Pines.

Danie is survived by her children: Nicholas (Sandra) Zeleski of Waterford, WI, Linda (Carl) Varney of Stevens Point and Kenneth (Jo Ann) Zeleski of Plover. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Nicholas Zeleski Jr., Kathrine (Alex) Knutson, Laura Zeleski, Kelli (Case) Zeleski and Alec Varney. She is further survived by sisters Wanda (Dave) Mattix and Beverly (Jim) McDaniel both of Loomis, WA.

In addition to Fred, Danie was preceded in death by her parents as well as brothers Raymond (Gail) and Robert (Kathy) and sisters-in law Grace (Theodore) Jaworski and Dolores (Stephen) Stuczynski.

The family would like to thank the staff at Whispering Pines as well as caregivers from ProMedica Hospice for providing Opal compassionate care throughout the final stages of her journey.

In lieu of floral expressions of sympathy, donations can be made in Opal's honor to St. Bronislava's Works of Charity and the Plover and the Plover Interfaith Food Bank.

A Mass of Christian burial for Opal will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday March 16, 2023, at St. Bronislava Catholic Church 3200 Plover Road Plover. Rev. Juan Pedro Roblez Baltazar will officiate. Burial will follow in the Guardian Angel cemetery.

Visitation on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until time of service, with a parish rosary being prayed at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

Pisarski Community Funeral Home of Plover is honored to be serving the family. For online condolences please visit www.pisarskifuneralhome.com

The Funeral Mass will be live streamed. To view the funeral mass go to www.facebook.com/stbrons/livevideos/