Interviewed on April 18, 2013 by Yana VonHeim, Katie McMillen, Tami Huff

Current Age: 87

Dorothy was married to Fred for 57 years before he passed away in 2008. He suffered from Alzheimer’s for 11 years. Dorothy was his caretaker, which she claims was easy to do.

Dorothy and Fred had four children, Bill, Charlotte, Marilyn and Larry.

Bill was born in 1952. He married Jill and lives in Massachusetts. They have one girl, Lisa, who is 41 years old.

Charlotte was born in 1955. She married George Sheehan and lives in Omaha. They have three girls: Danielle, Nichole and Monica.

Marilyn was born in 1958. She married Howard White and lives in Omaha. They have two children, Emily and Adam.

Larry was born in 1961 and is married to Cathy. They recently moved to Gretna and have five children, Justin, Jennifer, Jeremy, Jordan and Jaden.

Dorothy has seven great-grandchildren, Brent (20), Brandon (18), Natalie (6), Maxine (3), Meline (1), Joy (not yet one year old), and Analese (3 months).

Dorothy has nine siblings. Two have passed away. Her sisters are: Veronica, Helen, Florence, Mary (deceased), Teresa (recently deceased on March 18th). Her brothers are John Francis and the triplets, Joe, Jim and Jerry.

Dorothy was born in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska. She lived with her parents until she was 26. That was when she married Fred. They continued to live in Cedar Rapids until Dorothy was 36 years old.

While growing up, Dorothy lived primarily with her grandmother. She would have preferred to live with her parents, but that is what the kids needed to do in order to attend Catholic school.

Dorothy had to sit out for one year during high school to help take care of the triplets who were born when she was 14 years old. She says she didn’t get into much trouble when she was a kid. She said all of her own children were well behaved too. The triplets, however, did run away from home once. Their mother sent them to bed without supper that night.

Because Dorothy had to stay a large part of her life at her grandmothers, she didn’t get to do certain things, like have friends over. It was too much for her grandmother. She did get to hang out with her second cousins though.

As kids, they played outside and made their own fun. Her fondest memories of childhood included playing house and making mud pies and mud hot dogs. She also enjoyed playing beauty shop—her older sister Mary could do hair well. She could wave hair nicely.

After high school Dorothy taught six years in a country school. She taught in a K-8 building. The last year she taught was the year she dated Fred. They married after dating ten months.

Dorothy & Fred met on a double date with her sister. They went to Peony Park.

Dorothy married Fred in 1951.

Dorothy and Fred moved from Cedar Rapids after they had been married for five years, when she was 31 years old. They bought a house by the Crossroads Mall (the mall wasn’t there at the time). That is where they lived for 46 years.

During this time Dorothy worked at Brandeis cafeteria for two years serving coffee. Fred worked at the Union Stockyards in Omaha when they initially moved there. Later on, he became an engineer for Omaha Public Schools.

Dorothy loved her life, and especially enjoyed raising her children. Her kids attended a Catholic school in Omaha, Saint Pius X for eight years. Fred paid for their tuition by attending “working parties”. This is where you work so tuition is waived.

Dorothy liked that it was cheaper to outfit the kids in their school uniforms. She commented that the closets didn’t get so full either.

Fred and Dorothy moved into the Assisted Living portion of Crowell 11 years ago. A social worker helped them find this place. She liked it because it was really nice—only two years old at the time. It was not hard for them to adjust to the move. Her husband continued to live with her until he had to go to the Alzheimer’s Unit for three years. He passed away in 2008. Dorothy moved from Assisted Living to a setting in Crowell that offers more support.

Dorothy gets to see her children frequently, with the exception of her oldest son, Bill, because he lives in Massachusetts.

Dorothy was a very friendly lady to get to interview. It was obvious that her family is very important to her.

#2 Funeral home obituary

Dorothy passed away March 17, 2018 at the age of 92.

Preceded by:
Husband: Fred B. Klein
Sisters: Mary Batenhorst and Teresa Heithoff

Survived by:
Children: William (Jill) Klein, Charlotte (George) Sheehan, Marilyn (Howard) White and Larry (Cathy) Klein
Siblings: Veronica Feigenbutz, Helen Vana, Florence Finken, John Francis Nebel, Joe Nebel, Jim Nebel and Jerry (Mary Jane) Nebel 11 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren

Braman Mortuary March 2018

~~~obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

FindaGrave # 188143117