Marie Antoinette "Toni" Rakolta

Marie Antoinette “Toni” Rakolta, 86, of Toledo, Ohio, joined the choir of angels when she passed away peacefully on Tuesday morning, June 17, 2025, at home. Toni was born March 8, 1939, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child of Matthew Amadeo Sciullo and Marie Antoinette “Manette” Miller. She graduated from Milford Mill High School in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1956, and from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1960, with her bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy.

While on campus in Ann Arbor, Toni was a member of the Altar Society of St. Mary’s Chapel, Neuman Center, and every week, she went to prepare the altar for Sunday Mass. By chance one Saturday afternoon when she went to the Center to speak to the Priest, she was seen by a young man, George G. Rakolta. He was working as a janitor at the Center mopping the hallway floor. Neither she nor he had met or seen one another before. He was intrigued by her, and he actively searched to find out her name, which took a month. He was eventually able to arrange a blind date. Thus, the love story of Toni and George began. After a courtship of two years, they married September 11, 1960, at St. John the Baptist Romanian Byzantine Church in Detroit, Michigan.

As Toni had grown up the only child of an only child of an only daughter, she had always desired having as many children as she would be blessed with. She and George quickly started their family, having six children in the first eight years of marriage, all the while moving from Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Eloise, Michigan, to Fort Riley, Kansas, and finally to San Antonio, Texas, all as part of George’s military service. In 1969, George was assigned duty to a Vietnam army hospital to care for combat casualties, and Toni remained in San Antonio with the six children. George departed for Vietnam in February, on the same day their youngest, Charlotte, was baptized. When he returned home one year later, Charlotte was so upset that she had to share her Mother with this stranger, her Father!

Later, Toni was tasked with setting up the family’s new households in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Harlingen, Texas. It was then decided to return to the Michigan area so that the children could be closer to Toni’s and George’s parents.

After a year, they finally chose to come to Toledo, Ohio in 1975. Their youngest son, Michael, was born here, and two years later, an extraordinary gift from God was presented to them. They were blessed to foster, and then adopt, their youngest child, Brenda Denise, born in 1979. Brenda was born with a genetic disorder Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or brittle-bone disease. She had the severest form with a very short life expectancy. But since George and Toni had extensive orthopaedic and physical therapy backgrounds, they felt they could provide specialized care as well as love, and so she was welcomed into the family, and so thoroughly loved by her brothers and sisters. In addition to raising all eight children, Toni’s mother required assistance after the death of Toni’s father in 1981, and so she came to live with the family, and thus began a tremendous bond between Granny and Brenda.

Toni would often say that loving and caring for Brenda for the 19 years she lived, was her “crowning joy”! Her tender heart and desire to put others above herself was her trademark and prompted many who knew her to comment that she was “an angel on Earth.” She was particularly gifted in making everyone who met her feel special and recognized. Her faith was profound. She spent time every day sitting on the couch in the family living room reciting the Rosary. She participated in Bible study groups and in Charismatic services.

She volunteered her skills as a therapist in helping children born with Cerebral Palsy and other orthopaedic disorders at Glendale-Feilbach Elementary School, and later McTigue Middle School, and finally at Rogers High School. She also volunteered at the Sanger Library, St. Vincent’s Hospital Medical Records department, Toledo Hospice, and the Alzheimer’s Daycare Center on Reynolds Road. She also enjoyed playing Bridge at the Sylvania Senior Center with her dear friend, Annie, and many others.

Besides her daughter Brenda, Toni was preceded in death by her parents, Manette and Matthew Sciullo, and her grandson, Bradley A. Lorenzo (2009). She is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 64 years, George, and her seven children, Laura Lorenzo, of Temperance, MI; Georgia (Kevin) Kadlec, of Rocky River, OH; Pamela (Bill) Flere, of Piney Flats, TN; Milan (Misty) Rakolta, of Olathe, KS; Matthew (Christine) Rakolta, of Imperial, PA; Charlotte (Kirk) Duclaux, of Arezzo, Italy; and G. Michael (Melissa) Rakolta, of Cary, NC. She was blessed to have eighteen grandchildren, Larry III (Beth) Lorenzo, Kendra Lorenzo-Ruiz, and George R. Lorenzo (Jacqueline Holm); Genevieve (Matthew) Stroebel and Matthew (Lily) Kadlec; Charlotte and Samuel Flere; Colleena (Duy) Ho and Mikayla, Hannah, and Joseph Rakolta; Colin Rakolta; Alessio and Max Duclaux; and Benjamin, Nathan, Gregory and Andrew Rakolta. She also cherished her six great-grandchildren, Ava, Jared and Maya Lorenzo; Owen and Shawn Stroebel; Gabriel Flere; and was looking forward to baby boy Ho due in August. She will be greatly missed by her dearest friends, Sister Sarah Anne Morales, Jeff and Grace Silliman, and Gary Burk.

The family would like to extend their deepest heartfelt thanks to Theresa K. and Brenda M., of Christian Home Care, for the love and tender care they provided to Toni the past five years. They are also immensely grateful to Hospice of Northwest Ohio for their support in Toni’s last days.

Visitation will be held on Monday, June 23, 2025, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Walker Funeral Homes and Crematory, 5155 W. Sylvania Ave., Toledo, Ohio. A Celebration of Life conducted by Pastor Micah Sutton of Five Lakes Church in Sylvania, Ohio, will commence at 7:00 pm at the funeral home, immediately followed by a Rosary Prayer Service. On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, visitation will begin at 9:30 am in the narthex at Christ the King Catholic Church, 4100 Harvest Lane, Toledo, Ohio. A Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 10:30 am, with interment immediately following at Ottawa Hills Memorial Park, 4210 Central Ave., Toledo, Ohio. A luncheon will be held in the Fellowship Hall of Christ the King Catholic Church following the interment.

In lieu of flowers, the family has lovingly requested donations may be made to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation, Inc. (OI Foundation), Shriners Hospitals for Children, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.