Stephanie Uftring
A special birthday mass for Stephanie Uftring will be held on Sunday, June 7th at 9:30am at St. Monica’s.
Stephanie Uftring was an amazing person who added so much joy to so many lives. Whether you were a lifelong friend or she just met you, Stephanie always had a smile on her face and a “how are you, lovey?” at the ready. After a long battle with colon cancer, Stephanie passed away on October 16th, 2014. Stephanie was our Character of the Month in February 2010. We will miss you Stephanie! The world is a little less brighter without you in it.
Originally published February 2010:
Stephanie Uftring is a breath of fresh air. Never without a smile on her face, she can often be heard calling out to a friend or neighbor, “How are you, lovey?” She is a good person with a big heart and warm personality. Born and raised here, Stephanie is a true South Bostonian by definition. She grew up in the Old Colony Housing Development, and now owns her own condo on Third Street. “The only time I really left Southie was to go to college,” says Stephanie. She graduated from Johnson and Wales in Providence, RI and now works for the Boston Housing Authority. She also moonlights as a waitress at the Seapoint Restaurant. For anyone that has ever had Stephanie as a waitress, she is the best. She is always pleasant and upbeat and serves your steak tips and Budweiser with a smile and a side of sass.
When she isn’t working, Stephanie enjoys time with friends and family. “I cherish them. They are so important to me.” Spending time with her best friend Linda and her husband Joe Leeman poolside – at one of Southie’s only in-ground pools – is a perfect way to spend a hot summer afternoon for Stephanie. “The grill is always on and the blender never stops!” Being the social butterfly that she is, Stephanie also enjoys visiting some of the local eating and drinking establishments with her friends. Some of her favorite spots around town are The Seapoint, L Street Tavern, Amrheins and Shenanigan’s. But the streets of South Boston don’t fence her in. Stephanie loves to travel too. She’s been all over Europe and has been on two cruises organized by Southie’s own Harry Ulman. “He’s the best! He plans such awesome trips.” Her last trip with Harry was a cruise that took her Transatlantic from England, Ireland, France, Scotland and Iceland to Canada and then back down to the United States with roughly 220 other Southie people. She survived rough seas through the Atlantic and her all-girl singing group “Patty and the Girls” won Best Live Performance of the cruise.
Stephanie is also on the Board of Directors for the South Boston Irish American Society. The South Boston Irish American Society is a social group that gets together several times a year for some good old-fashioned fun. They have their annual banquet in March, a weekend trip to the Irish Village down the Cape in June and then smaller less formal parties throughout the year. “You don’t have to be Irish either,” says Stephanie. “I mean obviously, my last name is Uftring.”
One of Stephanie’s favorite parts of living in South Boston is its sense of community. She tries to attend all of the fundraisers and helps out as much as she can. “I know how important those fundraisers are. I help and I’ve been helped by them.” She values her close-knit neighborhood and some of her closest friendships are the friends she made back when she was a kid hanging at Billy’s Pizza on Old Colony Ave. But her childhood friends aren’t her only friendships. She truly is a friend to all and she proudly declares that she has friends from ages 21 to 101.
“She is the epitome of everything good about Southie,” her friend Margee Marks boasts. She truly is and that is why Stephanie Uftring is February’s Character of the month.