Dorothy Rogers, former Mount Vernon resident, passed away March 28, 2023 at the Oaknoll Retirement Community in Iowa City.
A memorial will be held to celebrate her life Sunday, April 30 at 2:30 p.m. at Oaknoll Retirement Community, Spring addition, 735 George Street, Iowa City.
Born in Statesville, N.C. May 22, 1926 to Ralph McGill Deal and Florence Miller Deal, Dorothy spent most of her childhood in Charlotte, N.C. She attended the Charlotte Public Schools, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and Columbia University in New York City for her Masters degree in 1948. She was the eldest of three, followed by her brother Ralph and a sister Rebecca. The siblings lost their father at a young age. Both siblings died in recent years.
She is survived by four of her five children: Scott, Douglas, R. Dwight and David; her daughter Jessie passed away last year. Dorothy is also survived by two stepchildren, Jane Gray and Richard Rogers; 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, the youngest of which Dorothy learned was born just days before she passed away.
Although Dorothy loved Iowa, she never lost her southern accent, charm, love of grits, okra and collard greens. During her life she traveled to Canada, England, France, Kenya, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Madagascar.
In 1970 Dorothy married Ed Rogers of Mount Vernon, a long-time family friend. Ed passed away in 2009. In the many years they had together they camped, canoed and participated in many trips with Elderhostel to Alaska, Native American reservations, Hawaii and elsewhere. They spent many winter breaks in Anguilla in the Caribbean.
Dorothy began work in 1973 at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as a Patient Representative. She retired as director of that program in 1986, the same year that Ed retired as a professor from Cornell College.
Dorothy and Ed moved from Mount Vernon to Oaknoll in 1994 where she participated in many of the community’s activities, including their choir. Dorothy’s interests included the Quaker Friends for their views on peace and non-violence, openness and integrity of government, environmental protection and social justice. She was an active participant both financially and on committees in several organizations representing these interests. She served on the Johnson County Foster Care Review Board and was a volunteer at the University of Iowa College of Medicine playing out symptoms of illnesses for the third year medical students. She was an avid painter with watercolors.
Dorothy was a wise, friendly, open and intellectually aware person who always made people feel welcome in her presence. She will be greatly missed by her family and all who knew her. At Dorothy’s request, her remains will be buried in her family’s plot in Charlotte, N.C. alongside her mother and father. At a later time, her family will hold a quiet ceremony in her honor at Pawley’s Island, S.C., where she and her family loved to vacation.
Memorials can be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Iowa City Shelter House, or the Iowa City Friends Meeting.
Dorothy Rogers
April 27, 2023