Delores "Dolly" Stepan

Delores (Dolly) Eileen (DeGrace) Stepan, 94, of Nashwauk, MN passed away on April 21, 2022,
when her loving, kind and generous heart stopped beating.
Dolly was born on October 12, 1927, in Hibbing, MN to Mike and Josephine ‘Pena’ (Romano)
DeGrace. She married the dashing Joseph J Stepan of Chisholm on August 7, 1948. She and Joe
first settled in Cloquet and after a couple years had an opportunity to buy the Marano grocery
store in Nashwauk and Stepan Grocery was born.
Dolly was an entrepreneur and the proprietor of the store while Joe worked in the mines and
helped her out between shifts. Dolly ran the store while raising her daughters and being a
dedicated daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt, neighbor and friend. Dolly truly excelled at
cooking and baking, but what she really excelled at was feeding people. Food is Love and Dolly
dished out both in large quantities.
Dolly is preceded in death by her husband Joe, her daughter Roxanne, her parents Mike and
Pena DeGrace, her siblings, Mary (Bill) McCallum, Patrick (Jeanne) DeGrace, Lorrayne (Dudley)
Calfee, and Sharon (Verlin) Zachary.
She is survived by her daughters Candi (Don) Bugdanovich, Leigh (Kris Arneson) Stepan and
Jode Stepan, her grandchildren Renae (Shawn) Schultz, Heather (Matt) Mattera, and Gregg
Boldt and her great grandchildren Joseph Schultz, Mikayla Schultz, Everett Mattera and many
loving, caring nieces and nephews that she loved as her own.
Dolly will be greatly missed by her loving family who will be so completely lost without her!
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Cecilia’s Church in Nashwauk at 11:00AM on Saturday, April 30, 2022.  Visitation will take place an hour and a half prior to mass starting at 9:30AM. The family encourages wearing masks.  Interment will take place at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Hibbing, MN.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church, Itasca Life Options
in Grand Rapids or Nashwauk Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Shelf.