Mollie F. (Craft) Vondriska

Mollie Frances Vondriska (nee Craft), age 81, of North Royalton, Ohio, passed peacefully into eternity Thursday, December 17, 2020 at the Lutheran Home at Concord Reserve in Westlake. The family will receive friends from 3-6pm Sunday, December 20, 2020 at Cannon, LoPresti & Catavolos Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be at 10am Monday, December 21, 2020 at the Funeral Home with burial at Brooklyn Heights Cemetery.

Mollie Vondriska was born October 26, 1939 in Grundy, Virginia to Beulah Stallard Craft and A. Bryon Craft. She was the elder of two daughters. Early in her childhood the family moved to West Virginia, where Mollie began her early education. By 1950, the family once again relocated to the Cleveland area, staying with family in Rocky River, before moving more permanently to the East side of Cleveland. She met her husband Carl while attending John Adams High School (Class of 1958), purportedly realizing he was “the one for her” while attending a Methodist youth retreat at Lakeside Chautauqua near Marblehead.  The young couple married November 26, 1960.

As Mollie’s family began to grow in the mid 1960’s, she enjoyed raising her children and taking care of the family home. While taking driver’s education classes around 1970, Mollie met another student, Carol Davies, a British homemaker living in the area, and the two began a lifelong friendship that included antique hunting and even an adventure to the UK in the early 2000’s. She was active in her children’s pre-school PTAs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops, and many of their other school activities. Mollie began a 40 year “career” as an Avon representative in the late 1970’s, keeping several regular clients throughout the years. Later, based on the ever-present smile on her face and in her voice, she was hired as a receptionist in an insurance office, and spent time working for the phone company. Probably one of her favorite side jobs was leasing space in various antique shops in the area and selling the wares that she was able to locate on her antique hunting adventures, and her handmade crocheted “Baby Wraps”. Having suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis for nearly 50 years, the crocheting and sewing that she loved doing helped to both keep her active and keep the RA in check.

Three values summarize Mollie’s life very well. The first being family. She loved her immediate and extended family very deeply and placed high value on spending as much time with them as possible. She enjoyed going on many “adventures” with each of her grandchildren, building memories to last throughout their lives. The second was friends. She enjoyed building friendships and managed to do so just about anywhere she went. She even made friends with the desk clerks at the hotel she would stay in on her annual trips to visit family in North Carolina, and they would catch up each year. The third, and perhaps most important was her faith. She loved to attend church and sing in the choir at North Royalton United Methodist Church, and had a long list of family, friends and acquaintances that she prayed for daily.

Mollie is survived by sons Alan Vondriska (companion Nancy Sprouse) of North Royalton and Marc Vondriska (wife Kimberly) of Statesville, NC, and daughter Bonita Sorg (husband Kevin) of Fairview Park; grandchildren, Clayton Vondriska, Brianna Vondriska, Makenna Vondriska, Mia Vondriska, Anya Osborne and Benjamin Osborne; and sister Karen Algeri (husband Brian). She was predeceased by her husband Carl A Vondriska in 2015, and by her parents Byron in 1981 and Beulah in 2001.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for the Spring of 2021. Details will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Mollie’s name to the Lutheran Home at Concord Reserve, 2116 Dover Center Rd, Westlake OH 44145.