Irene H. Strycharz

Growing up in Uxbridge as a first generation American, she helped her father read the daily paper before he tended pasture, and helped her mother with the family garden. After high school, she briefly worked as a switchboard operator and typist at the Taft-Peirce Manufacturing Company in Woonsocket, RI. Passionate about polka dancing and dress making, she spent most of her late teenage years and early twenties in dance halls, where she eventually met her husband, John E. Strycharz of Blackstone.

Married on April 30, 1956, Irene and John had four children, the late Mary Ann Mangan (Strycharz), John Strycharz, Edward F. Strycharz, and Joseph Strycharz. Together, they managed the Strycharz family farm, as well as the Strycharz Market on Ives Street until the market closed in 1981.

Irene spent her later life raising her grandchildren, traveling with her husband, attending church, and being the matriarch of the Strycharz family. She adored gardening, couponing, cooking, and spending time with her children and grandchildren. Family members fondly recollect about her amazing meals, her ability to give anyone the perfect banana curls; and her keen ability to revive any plant, no matter how wilted it was. Remembered as being clever, smart as a tack, and immensely resourceful, Irene's absence will forever mark the hearts of those she has left behind.

Irene is survived by two brothers, Edward Fior, 94, and Walter Fior, 89; three of her children, John, Edward, and Joseph. Irene leaves behind 9 grandchildren; Scott Renfree, Shanda Strycharz, Alesha Strycharz, Timothy Strycharz, Justina Strycharz, and Elizabeth Strycharz of Blackstone, MA; Lori-Beth Mangan, Michael Mangan, and Christoper Mangan of Goffstown, NH; and her great-grandchildren, Matthew Lind, Xavier Hamilton, Alyas Renfree, and Boue Gancarz.

Visiting hours will be Saturday, October 3, 2015 beginning at 8:30 A.M. at the Kubaska Funeral Home, 35 Harris Ave., Woonsocket, RI with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 A.M. at St. Paul's Church, St. Paul Street, Blackstone, MA. Burial will be at St. Mary's Cemetery in Uxbridge, MA. Relatives and friends are warmly invited.