Dorothy Helen Leslie Lewis peacefully passed away January 8, 2013, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dorothy was born May 13, 1915, to Blanche (Hale) and Eugene Leslie at Gallia, Ohio. She was one of seven children. Her parents and her brothers and sisters preceded her in death.
The Leslie family moved to Oak Hill when Dorothy was 11. She excelled as a student in the Oak Hill schools and was consistently among the top honor students. Family finances were tight despite her father working 10 hours a day at the Hitchcock Brick Plant and farming at home every evening and on weekends.
Dorothy quit school after her sophomore year and went to live with her mother’s brother in Charleston, West Virginia, where she worked in a neighborhood grocery store. She returned to Oak Hill at the age of 18. Shortly afterward, she met and married Denver Lewis of Wellston in 1934. Their son, Dean Lewis, Dorothy’s only child, was born the following year. She and Denver were divorced at about the time of Dean’s birth after which she was the sole provider for her and her son.
Dorothy, at age 20, went to work in Wellston as a waitress at Joseph’s on Pennsylvania Avenue and later as a seamstress at the Hercules Trouser Company. In 1946, Dorothy married Lamar Kessinger of Wellston. The new family moved to Jackson where Lamar managed the Factory Outlet Store and was advertising manager for Stiffler’s Stores. During that time, Dorothy worked as a clerk at the Cussins and Fern store and was later the secretary to the Jackson Police Chief, Otto Hacker. Lamar Kessinger passed away in 1955.
That same year, Dean, who had graduated from Jackson High School in 1953, won an on-air announcer’s job at WBNS, Radio/TV, Columbus, Ohio. That prompted Dorothy and Dean to move to Columbus where each of them remained for ten years. It was during that time that Dean fell in love with Marilyn Hartsook; they were married in 1956. After his years on the air in Columbus and New York City, Dean brought his family to Tulsa in 1978; Dorothy followed in 1989.
In December, 2012, despite a four-year illness, Dorothy led the toast to Dean and Marilyn at their 56th wedding anniversary. She loved being near her family in Tulsa and visiting with her grandchildren: Michael Lewis, Teri Overton-Pittman and Kathy Lewis. Great-grandsons, Danny Overton and Barrett Lewis, brought her a special joy you could see in her eyes whenever they visited. How very special it was to her to know Danny and his wife, Kayla, and their children, Jay and Selene, her great-great-grandchildren.
Until December when she moved to the Tulsa Nursing Center, Dorothy had been able to remain comfortably at her home attended by her round-the-clock care-givers. They made it possible for Dorothy to endure her final years even though she was an invalid — not easy for a person who until her illness was a strong willed, persistent and determined individual who had succeeded in most every endeavor — raising her son from the time she was a 20-year old single-mother, becoming a well-traveled, a well-read and a mostly self-sufficient individual.
Dorothy was among the best of parents and grandparents. She was a good friend to all who knew her. She now joins her family and friends who went before. Those loved ones she leaves behind, will miss her deeply till they’re all reunited. After cremation, the family will hold a private Episcopal service in Tulsa.