Dorothy Rose (Determan) Dolan Goettsch

Dorothy Dolan Goettsch of DeWitt, Iowa, passed away at Grand Haven Retirement Community in Eldridge on Saturday, April 10, 2021, following a stroke. 

Visitation will be at Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt from 9:00 until 10:45 a.m. Friday, April 16, 2021.  A Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, DeWitt with the Rev. Fr. Stephen Page officiating.  Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Dorothy was born October 16, 1928, at home in Sugar Creek to Ed and Lottie (Spain) Determan. She was the third of ten children, Ella (Hurson) DeNolf, Jim (Annabeth) Determan, Gert (Dick) Pray, Camilla (Don) Saravalli, Al (Donna) Determan, Mary Jo (Clair) Droessler, Dick (Mary) Determan, Lorraine (Frank) Reither, and Janet (Lee) Driscoll.

Dorothy attended St. Joseph’s elementary school in Sugar Creek, graduated from Preston High School in 1946 and attended Mount St. Clare College in Clinton.  She was a teacher of a one-room school, the County Home School, south of Charlotte, from 1946 until her marriage. She returned to college in 1967, renewed her teaching certificate and taught as a substitute teacher and teacher assistant in the DeWitt Community Schools.

Dorothy married Bill Dolan on February 5, 1948, at St. Joseph’s Church in Sugar Creek. The couple farmed several farmsteads in Clinton County until they settled north of DeWitt in 1961. They had six children. Bill died April 17, 1986. Dorothy later married Lyle Goettsch.  He died in December 2005.

Dorothy was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.  Her Catholic faith was very important to her and she volunteered many hours of service to her church. She was noted for her baking skills, her breads and pecan pies were her specialties. She was a talented seamstress and sewed countless outfits for herself and her daughters when they were little girls.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Ella, Gert, Mary Jo, and Lorraine; brothers, Jim and Al; and sons, Kevin Dolan and Leonard Goettsch.

Surviving are daughters, Mary Dolan, Jane Moore, Sue (Mark) Mahieu, Lori (Dr.Bill) Frymark-Wortman, Gayle Dolan, and Teresa (Ed) Schneckloth; grandchildren, Shayla (Matt) Stern, Jim (Gretchen) Thiel, Jon (Lindsay) Thiel, Erin (Nick) Moore-Vasquez, Mark (Naomi) Moore, Nikki (Sam) Kupresin, Kelly Mahieu, Ali (Clay) Frymark-Welshofer, Jack Frymark, Brynna, Lauren, Maggie, and Billy Dolan, Joe, Megan, and Claire Schneckloth; great-grandchildren, Adé and Miles Stern, James, Noah, and Harrison Thiel, Tucker, Hudson, and Lincoln Thiel, Rosalie Moore-Vasquez, Miles and Lena Moore, and Sammy and Sloane Kupresin; Goettsch children, Marsha (Mark) Witte, Terri (Dave) Bousselot, Debra (Rocky) Everly, Lonny (Leisha) Goettsch, Lana (John) Goettsch Pattee, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; siblings, Camilla Saravalli, Janet Driscoll, and Dick Determan; and many nieces and nephews.

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