Dorothy Grace Forsberg

Dorothy Grace Courser was born June 17th, 1925, to Elmo George and Rosamond Phoebe Courser on a rainy night in Arnegard, N.D. The doctor was sent for, but he came late, so Dorothy was delivered by her grandmother. She was the second child, little sister to Kenny. Later would come Lars, Bill, Phoebe and Phyl.

The three oldest children attended a one-room school. Along with two other children, they made up the entire student body. In 1929, Elmo found work helping to build the Lewis and Clark Bridge in Longview, Wash. He liked Washington so well that in 1941 he gathered up the family and moved there permanently. Dorothy was 16. She attended R. A. Long High School and later worked as a candy-striper at St. John’s Hospital and then at Weyerhaeuser from 1944 to 1945.

Dorothy met her future husband, Eugene R. "Slim" Forsberg in 1942 when he was stationed at Longview. They had just two dates before he was shipped out, but they got to know each other by writing for the next three years. In 1945, Slim surprised her by showing up unannounced at her house in Rose Valley. A few days later, on May 6, 1945, they were married. Slim had been injured in the war, so they moved to El Paso, Texas, where he was being treated. They lived in a small apartment that had once been a garage. Dorothy was a favorite on the floor where Slim spent his days and became known by the other patients as the queen of the ward. They left El Paso and moved back to the Longview area to start their family.

They were living in Rose Valley on Owl Creek when Jim, Mike and Vickie were born. Around 1951, they moved to their house on 23rd in Longview because Slim had taken a job that required being away from home. In the beginning, Dorothy would take the three little children on the bus to do her shopping. Later, she learned to drive which gave her a lot more freedom. Soon Jody was born, completing the family. With Slim gone a lot, she managed to raise the four children mostly on her own. She got them to music and dance lessons, sports practices and scout meetings. She made it to recitals, games and swim meets as often as she could.

Among other things, Dorothy crocheted lacy doilies that she starched into fantastic ruffles. She also crocheted over 100 afghans plus beautiful double-sided blankets for so many babies. She canned peaches, pears, applesauce, jam and pickled beets. She created elaborate doll cakes for little girl birthdays, made German chocolate cakes for special occasions and hot cross buns that Slim delivered to friends and family. She also made the best fried chicken, potato salad and, of course, cinnamon rolls. She loved gardening and kept a vegetable garden in back and flowers out front including roses, nasturtiums and a big hydrangea by the front porch.

Slim and Dorothy joined the Ruff and Ruffles square dancing club and participated whenever he was in town. She made matching dresses for her and shirts for him and even made clip-on bowties for all the men to match their fancy cowboy shirts. They often played pinochle with their good friends Jackie and Ed Obrien.

Her next-door neighbor, Noma Kimball, introduced her to bowling which she really enjoyed. She was a member of the Alley Cats and other teams and traveled with the teams to tournaments in Portland and Las Vegas and had badges, pins and trophies to prove her skill.

To help pay for Vickie’s college, she went to work at Pietro’s Pizza Parlor and continued to work there for many years. She later worked for the same family at The Pizza Place.

Once the kids were all old enough, Dorothy traveled with Slim in their motorhome to his job sites in places like Grand Prairie, Alberta. In the 1970’s they traveled to Iran and were there about three years. They had many adventures and made good friends with the other families in their compound. Dorothy even organized an American Thanksgiving dinner for their English and Canadian neighbors.

After retirement, they decide their two-story house was too much for them to manage, so they moved to Claudia Court where Dorothy again had a lovely garden with vegetables, Asian pears, blueberries and lots of flowers.

They down-sized again to an apartment closer to town, where they could walk to the Chinese Gardens to share an order of Chinese food or take a short drive to shop for groceries. Of course, during all this time, she had acquired 4 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. There was lots of babysitting, birthday parties and even road trips to keep her busy.

When the time came for a little more help, Slim and Dorothy moved to Monticello Park where she grew a little container garden. She continued to cook her specialties, to crochet as much as her arthritis would allow and took up scrapbooking, making books for herself and each of her four children. Her favorite thing was visits from her family.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, Slim; and her four brothers, Kenny, Lars, Bill and Phyl.

She is survived by a sister, Phoebe; and four children, Jim, Mike, Vickie, and Jody, and their families.

A celebration of Dorothy's life will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Friend’s Church in Rose Valley. Private inurnment will take place at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore.