Dr. Lorraine Kolbusz, 74

Dr. Lorraine Ann Kolbusz, 74, the loving wife of the late Thomas (Tommy) Karol Kolbusz, passed away Friday, October 10, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in 1951 in Flushing, New York to the late Kurt B. Reinecke, Sr. and Dori Riehl, she was a resident of Weston for over forty years prior to relocating to Las Vegas three years ago.

Dr. Kolbusz attended the University of Connecticut from 1969 to 1971 and studied abroad at the Richmond American University London in 1973. She returned to UCONN to finish her undergraduate program, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1981. While at UCONN, she accepted a Public Service Award, given to a graduating senior for service to the university and its community.

Dr. Kolbusz subsequently attended the Fairfield University Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, where she obtained her master’s degree in 1997 and went on to earn her Certificate in Comprehensive Special Education from the Connecticut State Board of Education. Still eager to enrich her studies, she received her Doctor of Education from Western Connecticut State University in 2007.

Dr. Kolbusz completed her student teaching at Naramake Elementary School in Norwalk and was assigned to the resource program, which enrolled children with various disabilities. As she progressed through the school system, she became the Chair of the Department of Psychology and Special Education, a distinction she was very proud of.

Throughout her years as an educator, she applied her unique style of teaching to provide positive reinforcement to all her students. As the consummate professional, she always demonstrated a high degree of commitment and genuine concern for the needs of exceptional students. She loved being around children and had an innate ability to truly hear their voices.

Dr. Kolbusz was a highly intelligent and hardworking person, with a gentle manner, agreeable personality and delightful sense of humor. Since her husband’s passing five years ago, she had a life well lived surrounded by the people she loved. The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor touched but are felt in the heart.

We will miss your smiling face and sincere heart. You are special person in our lives who will never leave us, even after you are gone. Nothing can ever take away the love the heart holds. You are greatly loved, deeply missed and will forever be in our hearts LoLi.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 9:30 am at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1719 Post Road in Fairfield. Interment will follow in Oak Lawn Cemetery. Friends may greet her family prior to the Mass from 8:00 to 9:00 am at the Shaughnessey Banks Funeral Home, 50 Reef Road in Fairfield.

To send an online condolence, please visit shaughnesseybanks.com.