Dottie

She was a large girl, with a heart to match and a love of gambling. Fortunately, she was a very good gambler and, she was lucky, which combined with a bookkeeping background served her well.

Dottie was the youngest of three girls, the ‘baby’ of the family. Her parents were old school and had both spoken and unspoken rules that were difficult to follow.

This caused the two older girls to move away when they were able to do so, leaving Dottie alone in this strict environment.

As sometimes happen with children reared in a strict upbringing, Dottie soon found her self pregnant… a fate not looked upon for a single girl with much sympathy. Her father did what so many of that era would do.

In an attempt to keep his “shame” from the neighbors, he sent Dottie away to have the baby and made sure the baby would be put up for adoption at birth. She was not to return to his house.

Many will say she did not have to give her baby away, but they would need to walk in the footsteps of those living 70-80 years ago before making that comment.

Her dad was the unquestioned head of the house. His word was LAW; Dottie was just a teen with no where to go.

Where was the dad of Dottie’s baby? As far as we were able to determine, she never disclosed his name.

Fortunately she found a job in the accounting/waitress fields to earn her own way from that point on.

In her later years, Dottie moved to Oregon and lived with us in a basement apartment for several months.

She had cancer before coming to us, which resulted in one breast being removed; she knew that there were few years left in her life and wanted to be near loved ones.

What a girl! With all her illness problems, she found a good job as the accountant for a large, Portland restaurant. This enabled her to find and furnish an apartment of her own after about 6 months on the job.

As I said earlier, gambling was her thing. While living with us and even after moving she was at our home many evenings to play Gin with me.

She insisted on playing for money and I reluctantly agreed to play for 1/10th of a cent. Scoring with the Hollywood version of three lines going at the same time can be very spendy, but the limit kept it a friendly and fun game.

Dottie lost almost every time we played, (I said she was a good gambler, not so hot at Gin,)usually saying she didn’t mind because she was “my pigeon”. These memories of Dottie will always remain with me.

All too few months passed before she went to the hospital one last time. My wife and I were with her during her last hours here on this earth. Dottie welcomed the opportunity to rid herself of the cancer pain, and had faith in a better life.

Just before going into the hospital, Dottie ran across an ad to sign up for a $500 insurance policy for only twenty five cents for 3 months.

She mailed it off with the quarter taped to the ad, making me the insured; saying it was one of the surest bets she ever made. Yes, she did have a wonderful sense of humor.

Dottie told us what she wanted done with her remains and made us promise to put a “pigeon” on her grave marker. She asked that her body be cremated and then taken back to parent’s grave site for burial.

She wanted her remains to be placed in a medium-large jewelry box she had bought at the town market. The box was made from a piece of a tree limb, beautiful hand made work.

While going through the inspection line at the airport with my family and friends to take Dottie home for burial; one of the inspectors wanted to know what was in the box that I was carrying on board.

You should have seen her jump back when I answered that it contained human remains!

She was going to make me check it as luggage, but fortunately, a supervisor who I knew came by at the right time and told her it was OK for me to carry the box on board.

All her requests were honored including the pigeon. But now… FOR THE REST OF THE STORY!

A few years ago we were contacted by a lady purporting to be the baby Dottie was made to give up at birth. She wanted to meet someone who could tell her about her Mother.

No question about it, she really is Dottie’s Daughter.

So – Dottie still lives through her daughter! We were and are so happy, because she, like her Mother, is an intelligent, caring and very loving person. I know Dottie is happy that we have been connected.

Unfortunately, she inherited some of Dottie’s cancer genes, and has undergone several operations and special chemo treatments, just like her Mother. She reminds us of Dottie in so many ways.

She felt well enough to visit recently during a lull in chemo treatments. The airplane makes travel faster, but we still wish she lived closer to us.

Dottie’s daughter and our youngest daughter are very close, visiting each other several times each year and talking on the phone almost daily.

We have all felt Dorothy’s presence at times. And now we are blessed to know her daughter, and her grandson and granddaughter.

What a glorious way to to keep memories of Dottie, now that the rest of the story can be told. Would you share a story about a loved one? If so, please use the "Contact Us" page.