Dzikas, Dalia M.

Dalia M. Dzikas, 81, of West Hartford passed away peacefully on July 25, 2021. Dalia was born in Vilnius, Lithuania to the late Petras and Eugenia Minkunas.

Following WWII, Dalia and her family emigrated to the U.S. and settled in New York City. There they immersed themselves in the Lithuanian community. As a young girl, Dalia danced as a member of the New York Lithuanian folk dance troupe where she discovered her lifelong passion for Lithuanian folk dancing. She graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Dalia married Alfonsas Dzikas and they settled in central Connecticut where they began to raise their young family. As an active member of the Lithuanian community, Dalia became a teacher and director of the Hartford Lithuanian Saturday school, “Svyturys”, and formed the “Berzelis” Lithuanian Folk Dance Group, which she led for over 35 years. For many years she was the Director of the Lithuanian Folk Dance Institute, and she was the artistic director of the East Coast Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival held in Hartford in 1981 and the XIV Lithuanian Folk Dance

Festival held in Chicago in 1992. She was also active in the “Ateitinikai” Lithuanian Catholic Federation, the Hartford Lithuanian Radio Program “Tevynes Garsai”, the Knights of Lithuania, “Moteru Federacija” (The Holy Trinity Women's Federation), and the Holy Trinity Church Coffee Club.

Dalia worked for over 30 years at the West Hartford Public Library. She loved reading, crossword puzzles,

and traveling. Her most memorable trips were annual vacations with family to the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, ME, traveling with her granddaughters to her beloved Lithuania, and travels with Alfonsas and their friends. In later years she loved getting together with her dear friends who made up a weekly “walking club” in West Hartford.

She will forever be missed by her son, Saulius Alex Dzikas and wife Irene of Bristol, daughter, Rima Gallagher and husband John of Stafford, VA, sister, Laima Lileika of Boynton Beach, FL and four granddaughters; Danielle Maxham, Sara Gallagher, Anastasia Dzikas, and Sophia Dzikas. She was predeceased by

her loving husband Alfonsas S. Dzikas.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10am on Saturday July 31, 2021 at Holy Trinity Parish 53 Capital

Ave, Hartford. Burial will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery 453 Fairfield Ave, Hartford. Visiting hours will be at 9am on Saturday July 31, 2021 at Holy Trinity Parish.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Holy Trinity Church, 53 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106. To share a memory with the family please visit www.

dillonbaxter.com

Please sign guestbook at courant.com/obituaries