Dorothy Bown

Dorothy R. Bown, 101, of Gettysburg, passed away Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at the Avera Oahe Manor, Gettysburg.

Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at the United Methodist Church, Gettysburg, with Pastor Jeff Adel presiding. Burial followed in the Gettysburg Cemetery. Visitation was held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Monday, April 10, 2017, with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m., all at the church.  

Dorothy Ruby Mary McGilvrey was born to Rube and Nellis (Kirsch) McGilvrey in a stone house at Burnstead, ND, a small town near Napoleon, on June 1, 1915. She grew up the oldest of 11 children. Family always came first with Dorothy and she told a story of watching a neighbor’s cattle in a field for a month, earning $10. She gave her mom the money to buy material to make clothes and diapers for her brothers and sisters.

She thought her dad was part gypsy as they moved a lot during her childhood. She shared a story of her dad starting off from North Dakota with a wagon and horses for a job in South Dakota. She, her mom, sister Ethel, and brother Hollis were all in the wagon, covered up with blankets. Grandma also had tucked a heater on the edge of the blanket to keep them warm. A blizzard blew up and they stopped at the next farm where they discovered Ethel was unresponsive. They were able to bring her back around and ended up living with the compassionate strangers for the winter.

The family finally settled in Gettysburg where she met and married Robert Bown from Sully County in 1934.

There were eight brothers in the Bown family and it was during the drought years. The family farm could not support all of them, so she, Bob and baby, Jerry, moved to Minnesota where her grandfather lived, to work for a farmer. She remembered it being so cold the first winter that she wore her overshoes in the house and kept toddler Jerry on the bed because it was too cold to let him on the floor. Donna and Janet were both born in Minnesota and four years later, the family was able to move back to South Dakota once the “Dirty Thirties” ended.

They settled on a farm in Hyde County and family could tell from reading her daily entries made on her kitchen calendar during those years that, on top of five or six kids still at home, she was usually feeding other family or company that dropped by. Some might think that living where the family lived, on a farm 25 miles out, could be boring; but she regularly got together with the neighborhood ladies to let the kids play while they visited or played cards. She also belonged to Lutheran Ladies Aid and garden club and raised a huge garden every year for canning and freezing in the fall. The family lived there until Bob died in 1971.

Some memories shared include her telling about listening to the broadcast of Hitler’s speeches on the radio. The ranting delivery of his speeches terrified her. Before Roosevelt implemented the REA after WWII, they used a wind charger on the farm which fed large battery packs in the basement for power.

After Bob’s death, Dorothy moved to Gettysburg; where she worked at a clothing store, a flower shop and Gettysburg Memorial Hospital. During these years, she also took several trips to the United Kingdom, Europe and different places in the US.

While most high school students have to eat at school, many of Dorothy’s grandchildren have great memories of the delicious meals she made them every day. Family continued to be very important to Dorothy and she loved having visitors at the Haven, where she lived until her death, especially if the visitors included children.

Until recent years, she made sure that every child, grandchild, and great-grandchild had a homemade Christmas present. Favorites were her lemon, pumpkin, applesauce, and banana breads, stuffed animals, blue jean quilts, flannel pillow cases, and in the 70’s all the kids got those string vests like Sonny and Cher wore.

Grateful for having shared in her life are her children: Donna Robbennolt, Rapid City, Janet Cronin, Gettysburg, JoAnn Oaks, Gettysburg, DiAnn (Jim) Diermier, Elbow Lake, MN, Robbie (Dick) Schneider, Rapid City, Vicki Larson, Omaha, NE, Kate Shreeve, Rapid City, and Jeff Bown, Gettysburg; daughter-in-law, Pris Bown, Gettysburg; 28 grandchildren; 65 great grandchildren; 31 great-great grandchildren; siblings: James (Shirley) McGilvrey and Jeanine Crandall both of Spearfish; and sister-in-law: Pat McGilvrey of Des Moines, IA and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Bob; son, Jerry; grandchildren: Rebecca and Joseph Bown; great grandchildren: Aaron Hawkinson, Jeremy Skuza, A.J. Cronin, and D.J. Fischer; sons-in-law: Dan Cronin and Gene Robbennolt; granddaughter-in-law: Marie Robbennolt; and her sisters: Ethel Engen, Bernadette Merrill, and Alice Larrington; and brothers: Hollis, Clarence, Otto, Howard and Kenneth McGilvrey.

Dorothy had the privilege of receiving a letter signed by President and Mrs. Obama and having June 1, 2015 proclaimed Dorothy R. Bown Day by South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard.

Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Dorothy’s arrangements.