Dorothy Altstatt Burchard, a featured contributor in the Fall/Winter 2018 issue of The Stray Branch and mother of another long time friend and contributor to the publication, Mark Burchard who is also featured in this issue passed away just days after the issue’s release. With permission I share her obituary.
Dorothy (Mom, Granny) Altstatt Burchard
January 9, 1927 to October 30, 2018
Mom’s parents Ferman and Bertha Altstatt farmed around Kashire Bottom in backwater Oklahoma. Mom was born in a humble tenant farmer’s cabin near Sayre. Her dad hitched the horse to a wagon and rode seven miles to Spiro to fetch Doc Mixon for her arrival. Doc and Grandpa waded the swollen river but got back in the nick of time.
The family had to take infant Dot to the fields where they chopped and picked cotton. Grandma put her in an apple box with one of her wonderful quilts and dragged her down the rows as they worked.
Grandpa needed a drier climate due to frequent pneumonia from mustard gas in WW I. About 1935, in front of the dust bowl, the family migrated west in a $40 Dodge, seeking the Land of Milk and Honey. They found Yuma, AZ. Mom and her three sisters and two brothers went to school and grew up in Yuma.
During WW II mom worked at Yuma Army Air Base. Our Dad Jack Burchard was stationed there. They met and married in 1945. After the war they moved to Dad’s home in DesPlaines. Growing up in a farming Assembly of God, Republican family, mom became part of a suburban Catholic, Democratic family, 2,000 miles away. She had just turned 19 and had never been away from home.
In DesPlaines Dorothy became the mother of 10 children. She raised us all with great care and love. She somehow fed and clothed us all, got us to school and church and taught us to pray. Measles, mumps, flu, polio and all the rest. At the time cloth diapers were rung out in the toilet and kept in a diaper pail. Mom burned the diaper pail after continuous use for twenty-one years.
Mom championed many causes. She was a frequent Letter to the Editor contributor. In one letter she castigated a chauvinistic Doctor and dared any man to stay home and do the daily chores of a mother. Later she campaigned to establish a state memorial for soldiers who lost their lives in war. In an eloquent letter she explained that the memorial was not dedicated to war but to those who served.
Mom served as president of the Lady Elks and of the St. Mary’s Altar and Rosary Society. She always loved organizing shows, dancing and singing on stage. She was an enthusiastic entertainer. In an Elks Club Show at Maine East the playbill listed her as “Dottie Bananas.” She loved performing in the “Dancing Darlings” and didn’t mind embarrassing us.
She was a dedicated member of St. Mary’s Catholic Parishe. She served as a lector, instructor, fund-raiser and organizer. At our school she was active in the Parent Teacher Organization, Scouts and everything else. She had a deep and abiding faith.
Dorothy earned two applied science Degrees from Harper College in Horticulture and Park and Grounds Management. She loved driving the tractor and taking a chain saw up in the bucket to trim trees on campus. She Graduated from Elgin Community College in Human Services with specialties in Drug and Alcohol Abuse and Active Parenting. She was certified as a master gardner. She insisted on driving a pick-up so “she could haul stuff.”
She worked as a designer, supervisor and manager for O’Brien the Florist, Klehm Nursery and Walmart. She served as a Victim’s Court Advocate and as a Domestic Violence Recovery trainer in Yuma. She was energized by her passions for painting, collecting old stuff, gardening, thunder, lightning and rain storms. She left every place beautiful.
After divorcing she purchased a camper and toured the United States on her own for a year. She returned to Yuma for a time but finished her days in DesPlaines near many of her children and grandchildren.
Dorothy Altstatt Burchard is remembered by her 10 children, Jack (Peg), Coupeville, WA, Mark (Karl), New York, NY, Matt (Carol), Meridian, ID, Luke, (Pam) Greenville, SC, Dorothy (Ticker) (Dan Dexl), Des Plaines, Peter (Denise) Geneva, IL, Paul (Lisa Durack) Chicago, Peggy Manning, Des Plaines, Jim, Woodstock, IL, Katy (Bob Klages) Elk Grove, IL.
Additionally, Dorothy is survived by 31 grandchildren, 31 great grandchildren, her sisters, Janice Hayes, Yuma, AZ, and Rae Hoffman, Phoenix, AZ, and many, many nieces & nephews. She was preceded in death by her father, Ferman Altstatt, mother, Bertha Altstatt, sister, Jewel, brothers, Leslie and Dillard, and grandson Marten Luke Manning and former husband Jack.
We are especially grateful to everyone at Rainbow Hospice for their tender attentive care for mom. Thanks to you and our amazing family Mom was able to realize the persistent wish that she spend her final days at home “and not locked up some place.”
http://www.thestraybranch.org/current-issue/22-fall-winter-2018/features/contributors/dorothy-altstatt-burchard/