Dorothy Ruth Robinson, 93, died Monday, March 2, 2015, at Greenwood Village Assisted Living Center in Kalispell.
Born Aug. 11, 1921, in Williamsport, Indiana, she was the second of eight children born to Russell and Gertrude Black. Dorothy spent her childhood in Indiana and Illinois, graduating from Hyde Park High School, Chicago, in 1940.
On Nov. 8, 1943, she married Bernard Anthony Robinson. They were married nearly 68 years at the time of his death in 2011. After World War II, they settled in the Chicago suburb of Melrose Park. Vacationing in 1948 to visit Air Force friends in the Flathead Valley, they decided to leave the Windy City, moving to Lakeside in 1949. Dorothy and Bernie moved to Kalispell in 1952 and resided here since.
Dorothy loved children, especially babies. She was active in PTA while her children were in school, and was a state officer several years. She loved to say that at one time, she had a child in every level of education — university, high school, junior high and elementary school. Summer meant gardening, both vegetables and flowers. She canned and froze fruits and vegetables, and would enter her products at the Northwest Montana Fair frequently. She loved showing family her blue ribbons (and red too!).
Dorothy and Bernie enjoyed spending time with family and friends at the house the family built on Little Bitterroot Lake. She was a longtime member of the Century Club in Kalispell.
Dorothy worked for the Flathead County attorney several years, was the secretary of the Carpenter’s Union and was a bookkeeper at several stores in Kalispell.
She is survived by three daughters, Peggy Morrison and John of Lakewood, Colorado, Barbara Lohn and Jim of Renton, Washington, and Toni Powell and Gordon of Kalispell; one son, Chuck Robinson, and Debbie, of Auburn, Washington; seven grandchildren, three stepgrandchildren, five great-grandchildren, three stepgreat-grandchildren, one sister, and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Bernie; her parents; one sister; five brothers; and daughter-in-law, Jane Robinson.
Visitation will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at Buffalo Hill Funeral Home. Funeral services for Dorothy will be 2 p.m. Friday, March 6, at First Presbyterian Church, 540 S. Main St., in Kalispell, where Dorothy was a member. Burial will be in C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery.
The family would like to thank the staff of Greenwood Village. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to First Presbyterian Church of Kalispell to be used to purchase Bibles for children.