Dorothy DiPaulo, co-founder of Mario's, passes away at 80

By Michael Comstock 

Dorothy DiPaolo, who co-founded of Mario’s Italian Lemonade stand on Taylor Street with her husband, passed away January 28. According to her son, Mario “Skip” DiPaolo, she got sick that day, went to the hospital, and died there of pneumonia and heart failure.

Mrs. DiPaolo was born Dorothy Palcer on the North Side on Oct. 22, 1926. Despite her strong association with an Italian treat, she was of Polish, Irish, French, and Norwegian heritage, her son said.

She met her husband Mario in the late 1940s in his general store at Harrison and Leavitt Streets. They married in 1947 and four years later moved the store to Taylor Street.

Around that time, Mario began selling Italian lemonade out of a pushcart in front of the store. In 1955, the couple opened a stand next door to sell the popular treat and ran it together until Mario’s passing in 1984.

“She left day-to-day operation of the lemonade stand when she was 72,” said her daughter Donna Jagielski. “My brother Skippy and his wife and their three children are running it now.”

Mrs. DiPaolo was known for her good work ethic. “One thing she taught me and my sister,” said Skip, “was 'keep your nose to the grindstone.' That is why the lemonade stand is a success.” He added that in all the years she worked she never missed a day or even came in late.

The determination she instilled in her children was learned as a self-taught professional figure skater. According to Skip, his mother was Miss Teen Illinois in a junior figure skating tournament sometime in the 1930s.

From 1944 to 1945 she skated in the Ice Capades with legends such as Sonja Henie, and though her skating career ended after that, she continued to love and participate in the sport. “She still skated until she was 76,” said Jagielski. “We went two or three times a year.

“The reason she stopped is she was afraid to fall and break her hip. She didn’t want to be an old lady with a broken hip on crutches,” Jagielski said.

“Dorothy blossomed, in a way, later in life,” said Bill Salas, manager of Mario’s and long-time friend and employee of the DiPaolos. “Along with her girls, a very small group of ladies she spent a lot of time with— her daughter, granddaughter Raeonna, her dear friend Theresa, her friend Geri Aleman, and her devoted friend and employee Gloria Fleenor—she became ever more adventurous.”

Mrs. DiPaolo loved to travel. “When she was 75 years old, we went to the Gulf of Mexico,” said Jagielski. “She had seen the parasailers up in the air and she wanted to know what that was. I had told her and she wanted to do it, so she and I went parasailing with my two children. They were afraid about going, and I told them, ‘If your grandmother could parasail, you can sure do it.’ So they went and after that we went jet skiing for the first time and she loved it, too.”

Mrs. DiPaolo also loved reading and culture. “She loved to go to plays and concerts,” said Jagielski. “She took me to my first concert when I was 16 years old to see Judy Garland. This past year my brother took her to see Paul McCartney when he was in town, and when Barbra Streisand came to Chicago, she and I were sitting third row center.”

Her friends and family described her as a humble and loving woman. “Working with Dorothy and her deceased husband Mario was a real delight,” said Salas. “Dorothy was always a confidant to everyone, myself included. We could always ask for her advice, and generally we took it. We became better people for having done so.”

Mrs. DiPaolo is survived by her son Skip and his wife Maria, her daughter Donna and her husband Raymond Jagielski, and her five grandchildren Raeonna, Ray Jr., Mario, Davina, and Marco.

The funeral was held at Salerno’s Galewood Chapels and at St. Vincent Ferrer Church. The body was laid to rest at Queen of Heaven Mausoleum.