Another member of the greatest generation is no longer with us. Dorothy Brown, 95, died on May 4, 2018, in a state of peace and fulfillment, in her home in Colorado Springs, with sunlight streaming into her bedroom window, surrounded by friends and family.
Dorothy was born on February 19, 1923, in Bijou Hills, South Dakota to Opal and Harry Finn. She grew up on a farm with her parents and three brothers in central South Dakota. She graduated in 1941 at Kadoka High School. She then attended and graduated from the National College of Business in Rapid City. During World War II, she worked as a stenographer for the United States Army Air Corps at Ellsworth Army Air Base in Rapid City. It was there she met her future husband, Dale Brown, a bombardier in the Air Corps. When Dale went to a base in England, she remained working. In November 1944, she learned his B-17 had been shot down on a bombing mission, and he was captured by the Germans. After the war, when he was repatriated, she and Dale married in July 1945, in his home state of Pennsylvania, where they made a home.
When they moved to Rapid City, South Dakota in the late 1940’s, Dorothy focused on raising her two sons, Larry, born in 1946, and Robert, in 1949. In the late 1950’s, she returned to the work force as a bookkeeper for a trucking company while Dale worked as a carpenter and engineer. She was an original “soccer mom” (although no one played soccer then), ferrying her children to various sporting events and practices in their 1956 Chevy station wagon. She and her family moved to Colorado Springs in 1966, where Dale had been transferred by the Corps of Engineers to work at the Air Force Academy and Fort Carson.
She took great pride in being a homemaker. Her hobbies included dancing, camping, fishing, sewing, gardening, canning, and enjoying friends. After Dale retired in the mid-1980’s, they added motor homing, snow birding in Arizona, and being involved in the 398th Bomb Group Association to the list. As the scourge of time began catching up with her and Dale, they focused on enjoying the home they lived in for 62 years, their church, their grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Dorothy was able to remain in her home despite the physical difficulties she faced, with the help of her son and wonderful caregivers, even after Dale died in October 2017.
Dorothy is survived by her son, Robert (Denver); grandsons: Michael Brown and his wife, Emily (Chicago), and Paul Brown and his wife, Marike (New Orleans); great grandsons: Larry, Oscar (Chicago); and Nelson (New Orleans); daughter in law, Kathy (Chicago); and two brothers. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dale; her parents; one brother; and her first-born son, Larry. She took great pride in her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She was the salt of the earth.
Dorothy was a member of the congregation of Ascension Lutheran Church since 1966.
Services will be held at Ascension Lutheran Church, 2505 North Circle Drive, Colorado Springs on May 21, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow at the Ascension Columbarium. Lunch will be served.