Albina A. (Ricci) Stavenga

STAVENGA, Albina “Ricci” A. of Schoolcraft passed away September 17 peacefully at home.

Albina was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 17, 1925, the daughter of Tobia and Lucia (Tatti) Ricci.  She loved tending her home’s container gardens and landscaping. During much of her life she was an avid antique collector specializing in “primitives”; like old farm implements and kitchen accessories from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  She had great fashion sense and loved finding the right clothes at store sales and garage sales.

In her early life she practiced bookkeeping at some Detroit businesses. After getting married she came to west Michigan having lived in Grand Rapids for fifteen years and then the Kalamazoo area where she resided for fifty years. In the 1950’s and 60’s she and Renne took their son camping to many Michigan state parks as well as several long camping road trips to the northern East Coast and the mountains in western US and Canada.  After moving to Portage, she worked with her husband and his business partner at a local Portage TV & appliance store.  After the store closed it gave Ricci and Renne the opportunity to travel the states for nearly twenty years buying and selling at flea markets from Ohio to Florida, and Texas to Arizona. She and her husband had a summer stall at Indiana’s Shipshewana Auction & Flea Market for that time along with set ups at many weekend Michigan flea markets.  They enjoyed the summer visits from their granddaughters whom they took along to the markets.

She was out and about in Portage/Kalamazoo with church activities, exercise groups, the Portage Encore Club, classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and ushering at the WMU Auditorium for plays and concerts.

On November 22, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan Ricci was united in marriage to Renne Stavenga who preceded her in death on January 25, 2000. Also preceding her in death were all three of her siblings; sister Placida Testa; brothers James and Boise. Albina is survived by her son, Mark (Bertha) Stavenga; grand-daughters, Mina (Casey) Humphries, Claire Stavenga; great grandchildren, Zion, Ezra, and Paulina; sister-in-law, Kathy Clark; and several nieces.

A service to honor Ricci’s life will be held on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Catherine of Siena Parish. Visitation prior to the service at 10:00 a.m in the church narthex.  1150 W. Centre Avenue, Portage, MI. To view Ricci's personalized webpage please visit https://www.langelands.com.