Dorothy Schwanke, 94

Dorothy Marie Schwanke died December 11, 2009 in Bethel, CT. Dorothy was born on September 10, 1915 in Staples. 
Her great-grandfather was descended from Danish royalty. He immigrated from Schlesving-Holstein, a tiny Danish province given to Germany at the end of World War I. He brought her grandfather to America as a little boy. He homesteaded near Dysart, Iowa, where her father, John Carl Matthiesen, was born, one of several children. 
Her grandmother, Mary Rolfe, was also born there. On her mother’s side, her great-grandfather, Henry C. Trierweiler, was born and reared in England. He came to America and homesteaded near Nashua, Iowa where her grandfather was born. Her grandmother, Minnie Wendt, came from Germany with her parents when she was 14 years old. Her mother, Elizabeth Sophia Trierweiler, was born in a little town called Frederika, Iowa, where she was one of five brothers and sisters. Dorothy’s mother and father met and were married in Staples. 
After Dorothy was born, her father, Jack, often referred to her as “mine lipskin,” or “Staples sand burr.” Although Dorothy was born in Staples, she attended kindergarten in Pipestone and later was raised on a farm in Unity, near Sauk Centre. She attended rural school in Unity and graduated from Sauk Centre High School. 
Dorothy attended St. Cloud Teachers College and received her degree in English and speech, and later attended the University of Colorado, University of Minnesota, and again St. Cloud, graduating magna cum laude with a master’s degree in speech pathology. She called her thesis “The Art of Listening.” 
Dorothy was married in June of 1941 to Herbert Walter Schwanke at Zion Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre. He passed away five years later of fulminating streptococcus of the lungs, which was probably contracted from GIs who had been overseas and returned to the states in Champaign, IL. 
Their union produced a son, John Carl Schwanke. Dorothy loved the theater, but her first love was people, little people, and children with learning disabilities. Dorothy lived in Alexandria since 1949. Before that, because of her teaching career, she lived in Sherman, SD, Clarissa, Austin, St. Cloud, Renville and Staples. 
She was well respected in her field, be it English, speech, theater or speech therapy, and was named Teacher of the Year in 1981. Dorothy was preceded in death by her brother, John Dorwin Matthiesen; husband, Herbert; mother, Elizabeth, and father, “Jack.” She is survived by her son, John, who resides in Danbury, CT, with her granddaughter, Eden Fath, her grandson, Kevin, wife Debra, and three great-grandsons, Troy, Tyler and Trenton of LaQuinta, CA. 

(From the EchoPress)