Dorothy Dobson

Dorothy Lee Dobson, mother of Meradean, Sonja and Annette passed away at her home Saturday evening, October 8, 2016. Visitation for Dorothy Lee will be from 5:00 until 7:00 with a prayer service at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 3001 S. 6th Street in Marshalltown. Funeral services will be at 10:30 on Thursday, October 13 also at Our Savior Lutheran Church. For more information or to send a condolence, please visit www.mitchellfh.com or call 641-844-1234. Dorothy was born on August 17, 1922, the first of eleven children to Omer and Lillie Harem Kjormoe. She played basketball with the 10 pretty girls from Dunbar High School and graduated from Dunbar in 1940. She was a member of Strand Lutheran Church. On March 15, 1942, she married Richard Wolken. They farmed in the Dunbar area and were members of Trinity Lutheran in Dillon. In 1953, they bought the Coppock Farm on Highway 30. She was a member of the Quaker Lane ladies group and kept busy with her chickens. She worked at Elmwood Country Club and the executive dining room at Fishers. In 1974 they built a new home next to the highway. Richard passed away that October. When the 4 lane came through, she sold her home and moved to Marshalltown. In 1982, she married Marshall Dobson. They spent their winters in sunny Tucson, Arizona, where they enjoyed playing shuffleboard. After Marshall passed away, she and Harland Wolken became companions. Dorothy loved working in her yard, mowing her grass and tending to her flowers. Her neighbor, Stu Christian, was always available if she needed a helping hand. In Arizona, she loved her orange and grapefruit trees, sending boxes of fruit to Iowa for her family members. She baked kringla and made kumla. Sequence and 500 were two of her favorite games and would play 500 every week with the LeGrand Card Club. Dorothy is survived by her daughters, Meradean (Gary) Gifford of Marshalltown and Annette Williams of Peoria, Illinois, her sisters, Mildred Lathrop, Betty Altmaier, brother, Richard (Brenda) Kjormoe and half-brother Gary Nodurft. Grandchildren: Jody (Martin) Jossie, Timothy (Jody) Gifford, Lori (Mick) Vana, Penny (Keith) Kramer and Brian (Tonya) Hammond, as well as great grandchildren; Emmorie, Sadie, Molly, Sam, Morgan, Zach, Grace, Trevor and Kayla, and many nieces and nephews. In heaven, she will rejoin her husbands; Richard and Marshall; her friend Harland; her daughter, Sonja; granddaughter, Joanne; grandsons Todd and Troy; three infant brothers, Robert, Roger and Earl Wayne and sisters Norma Hauser, Ruby Brittain and Sandra Shelton. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to Lutheran Cemetery of Dillon, L.C.M. U of I Campus Ministry, American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.