Notes |
- Dorothy Garthoffner Rodgers
Treat others as you would like to be treated. That's what Dorothy Rodgers did to receive the Golden Rule award at the Candlelight Lodge last year.
Her son Stephen Rodgers said the family was pleased with the award. "But it didn't surprise us," he said. "She made friends everywhere she went."
Dorothy Garthoffner Rodgers died Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001, at Candlelight Lodge in Columbia. She was 88.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Memorial Funeral Home, 1217 Business Loop 70 W. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 903 Bernadette Drive, with Monsignor Michael Flanagan conducting.
Mrs. Rodgers had been a resident of Candlelight Lodge since June 1999, and quickly made her presence agreeable to those around her.
"She showed us she was a very caring person within a few months of her arrival," said Ashley Heibel, assistant director of nurses at Candlelight Lodge. "Usually, it takes people a while to open up."
"In recent years, she was suffering from a moderately severe form of Alzheimer's but retained her warm and outgoing personality," Stephen Rodgers said.
Mrs. Rodgers was born on Dec. 23, 1912, in Boonville to Edward and Mary Darby Garthoffner. She married Leland Rodgers on Dec. 27, 1941, in Boonville. He died earlier.
"She was a Missourian to the core," said Stephen Rodgers. "That's who she was. Irish-German Catholic Missouri. Her parents were also lifelong Missourians."
After she graduated from Boonville Catholic High School, she attended Mary Mount College in Salina, Kan., for two years, before returning to Missouri because of the Depression.
Mrs. Rodgers moved to Columbia after World War II. Her husband taught at Stephens College, and she was active for 31 years with the Stephens College Faculty Wives.
After her sons left home, Mrs. Rodgers worked 15 years at the MU Registrar's Office. "She was very well known in her day," Stephen Rodgers said.
She was also an avid bridge player in a number of clubs. "It was like social bridge. She wasn't competing or anything like that," he said.
Mrs. Rodgers was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish and was active in activities outside of her church.
"She helped with many years with Meals on Wheels," Stephen Rodgers said. "She did that for a very, very long time."
Mrs. Rodgers is survived by two sons, Stephen Rodgers of New York, N.Y., and Alan Rodgers of St Paul, Minn.; and one sister, Frances Gould of Boonville.
Memorials may be sent to Catholic Charity, c/o Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 903 Bernadette Drive, Columbia, Mo., 65202.
|