A remembrance of Grandma Van

Dorothy Lorraine Dlouhy was born one hundred years ago into a world that would change more than anyone could imagine. She overcame many challenges and looked out for her family with love. She gave her daughter, my wife Dee, opportunities that she herself hadn’t experienced.

Our children knew Dorothy as Grandma Van. I am sharing here a scattering of pictures from her lifetime.

Dorothy was born at home in Chicago on December 30, 1922, to Joseph and Rose (Karel) Dlouhy. Their home was at 2715 South Clifton Park Avenue, apparently above or next to her maternal grandparents. Much of the information for this article is from notes I took many decades ago in interviews with Dorothy.

Here she was as a baby with her Grandma Karel.

How old do you think she was in the next picture?

Dorothy was two years old when her parents moved to 2729 South Lombard Avenue in Cicero, Illinois.

Here is a picture of young Dorothy with her mother, Rose.

Here was Dorothy in 1934.

Dorothy graduated from Goodwin Grammar School (8^th grade), at Austin Boulevard and 26^th Street, Cicero, in January or February of 1937. She graduated from J. Sterling Morton High School on Austin Boulevard in January 1940.

The following pictures were taken at her family home on Lombard in 1943.

The next picture, also taken in 1943, was inscribed on the back for her father.

Dorothy married Louis Peter Van Zandt on October 16, 1943.

Dorothy moved with Lou to Naval Air Stations in Clinton, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Whidbey Island, Washington. Here is a picture and inscription from Washington.

After Lou’s discharge from the Navy, they lived for about six months on Lombard Avenue. They then moved to 408 West 2^nd Street in Elmhurst, Illinois, the residence of Louis and Lena Van Zandt. Lou and Dorothy lived in a flat above the garage. Lou’s older brother Richard (and presumably his wife Rosalie) lived in a flat above Louis and Lena in the house. Louis and Lena had raised Lou and his brother Dick and sister Evelyn after their father Richard had abandoned his family. Louis was an older half-brother of Evelyn’s and Dick’s and Lou’s father Richard. Three younger sisters remained in an orphanage or foster care, as explained in previous articles. Confused yet?

Here is a picture of Dorothy with Louis and Lena, who were known to my wife Dee as her Grandpa and Grandma Van.

In August of 1948 Lou and Dorothy moved into a new house at the corner of Ridgeland Avenue and 28^thStreet in Berwyn, Illinois. This house and the next three down 28^th Street were built by Dorothy’s father. Her parents lived in the fourth house for several years. Lou ran a hydraulic jack service from their garage. Dorothy, who had worked for several employers since her graduation from high school, kept the books for his business. The adage ‘new house, new baby’ held true as their daughter Dedra was born after they settled in their new home.

This picture of Lou and Dorothy was taken on the occasion of his sister Betty’s wedding in 1952.

The next picture might have been taken some years later.

Dorothy hosted family dinners at Christmas for many years. I have fond memories of enjoying those gatherings and Bohemian specialties years later. In the following picture, Dorothy and her cousin Marie Cook were preparing dinner in 1958. This was before Dorothy had her father switch the placement of her kitchen and dinette. When she hosted large family gatherings, Dorothy set up tables in her spacious basement.

Lou and Dorothy divorced in January 1960. Lou remarried that year and Dorothy remarried, briefly, in 1963.

Dee tells me that she was in the eighth grade when the next picture was taken at their home on 28^th Street.

The next picture of Dorothy with her parents was taken at Christmas, 1965. This was their last Christmas before Dorothy’s father died in September 1966.

Dorothy worked part-time as a bridal consultant for Carson’s department store in Chicago while Dee was away at college.

Dorothy was prepared in this next picture to see her daughter married, much to my benefit. Dorothy’s cousin Marie Cook’s husband Floyd walked Dee down the aisle. To Dee, they were Aunt Marie and Uncle Floyd.

Dee’s mother and grandmother visited us in Germany, where I was stationed in the army, in 1973. This picture was taken in Würzburg.

In the following picture Dorothy and her mother were in the yard at our apartment building in Gerbrunn.

I like this picture of Dorothy at Garmisch.

Here she was in her living room on 28^th Street.

And then there were grandchildren. She liked them.

Dorothy worked many years for the Goss Printing Company, which made presses for newspapers, retiring in 1988.

The next picture was taken at our former home in Raleigh in 1992.

After Dorothy’s mother passed in 1996 and Dorothy recovered from emergency and follow-up surgeries, she sold her home of more than fifty years to move near us in North Carolina.

Dorothy had traveled to North Carolina in the 1990s for the graduations of her grandchildren from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dorothy was able to travel with us in 2000 to her grandson’s graduation at American University in Washington.

When Dee and I retired we moved back to Sheridan, Michigan, where I grew up and where we had lived when our children were young. Dorothy moved to Michigan ahead of us. Here she is at home in Greenville.

Dorothy naturally became part of our Michigan family. The next picture, at Thanksgiving, 2008, represents one of many family gatherings where she was welcome.

After a decade of apartment living, Dorothy had a new home built near us and our extended family in Sheridan.

Although Dorothy was having problems with mobility, she was still up for a road trip in January 2010 with our friend Janet from Raleigh. We were at the Holland harbor lighthouse in this next picture.

2010 was year of considerable change for Dorothy. By the end of the year dementia and related difficulties put her at great risk for living alone. She had expressed a desire to live eventually at Green Acres retirement community in Greenville, but that came much sooner than any of us anticipated. Fortunately, they were willing to accept her even though she had probably progressed beyond their usual scope of care.

Dorothy passed from this life on August 22, 2012. Although dementia rapidly limited her, I sensed that she was unburdened from years of concern for life. She achieved much in her lifetime and left a lasting impact on her family. We are immensely grateful.