Dolores Mary Melillo, 94, of Shrewsbury, passed away peacefully Nov. 8, 2023, at the Chelsea in Shrewsbury. Dolores was born in Newark to Anthony and Mary Tamburro.
She earned her R.N. degree from St. Michaels Hospital in Newark.
Dolores worked until retirement as an R.N. in multiple care facilities. She made it a point to make sure all of her patients were cared for as if they were her own family. She received many praises from patients and family members.
Dolores believed in spending time with family. She loved time with her children and grandkids and, for that matter, other family members and their children. She enjoyed knitting and sewing. She was a part of a knitting club making all kinds of clothing, blankets and other items that ended up distributed throughout friends and family.
When her daughter went into Girl Scouts, she became Girl Scout Leader.
Reading was a passion of hers all through her life and she was a regular at her local library. She also enjoyed traveling. Dolores and her husband, Louis, had a Volkswagen van that was used to pack up the kids and travel up and down the East Coast with the family dog, Snoopy.
She was predeceased by daughter-in-law Judy Melillo (2002), her son-in-law Roy Hildebrant (2012) and her husband Louis Melillo (2016).
Dolores is survived by her devoted children, Louis Melillo of Middletown and Michele Hildebrant of Hackettstown; her sister Lorraine DeTulio of Ocean Township; loving grandchildren, Tara Denman and husband Ryan, Victoria Madigan and husband John, Roy Hildebrant and wife Renee, Forrest Hildebrant, Bailey McKenna and husband Evan, Grae Shears and husband Brandon, Aspen Hildebrant and Hunter Hildebrant; as well as her three great-grandchildren, Parker Shears, Roy Joseph Hildebrant and Nicole Ann Madigan.
Family and friends visited Nov. 13 at the John E. Day Funeral Home, Red Bank. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Nov. 14 at St. James Church, Red Bank. Entombment followed at Forest Green Park, Morganville.
Memorial donations may be made in Dolores’ memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at stjude.org.
Memories and condolences may be shared at johnedayfuneralhome.com.
This article originally appeared in the November 23 – 29, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
