Funeral services for Dorothea Margaret Evans, 97, Lawrence, will be 11 am Thursday at Plymouth Congregational Church, with the Rev. Dr. Peter A. Luckey officiating. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Dorothea Bartz Evans passed away on March 23, 2014 at Presbyterian Manor where she had been a long-time resident.
Dorothea Margaret Bartz was born on August 1, 1916 in the family farm house in Eudora, Kansas. The two bedroom house with a dirt floor had no running water, gas or electricity with cooking and heating done on a wood-burning stove. All six of the family members lived in the house.
Dorothea was called Do (as in Doe) much of her life by family and friends. She was the youngest of four children born to Lidia Haas Bartz and Fred Bartz. Her grandmother, Mary Haas, was born in Germany and married William George Haas near St. Louis. Her brothers, George and Raymond, and her sister Pearl Seyler all lived near Eudora and preceded her in death.
She attended a country school from first through eighth grade and rode her beloved horse Fanny two miles to school alongside a neighbor girl. They were late one day and galloped to the school only to be turned in by a neighbor lady to the Principal for “racing”. This resulted in a good scolding and their parents were told.
Dorothea moved to her Brother George’s home in Eudora when she started high school. George had started the first telephone company in the Eudora area and after school, nights and weekends Do was the switchboard operator. 1934 was the year of her high school graduation. She then rented a room in Lawrence and attended the LawrenceBusinessSchool located at Seventh and Louisiana Streets and after graduation worked for several local attorneys.
Do met Robert Kenneth Evans at a Eudora civic picnic and they were married on December 23, 1944. Bob and Do began a career together operating a mobile x-ray unit for the State of Kansas, visiting every central and western town and county in the state. Their work was instrumental in drastically reducing the incidence of tuberculosis throughout Kansas. The State Board of Health retired the unit in 1957 as inoculation became widespread and successful.
Bob and Do then became employed at KansasUniversity, Bob as manager of the Chemistry Department Warehouse and Do as a secretary for several offices at Strong Hall including Vice-Chancellor for Finance Raymond Nichols. Bob and Do both retired in 1981.
Do was a member of the Lawrence Business and Professional Women’s Club and served as corresponding and recording secretary while heading several committees. She was selected Woman of the Year as reported by the Journal World in 1977. She was a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church, Ladies Auxiliary of the Lawrence Shrine Club and the Republican Woman’s Club. She has also served as a Second Precinct Committee Woman since 1972 and as a delegate for the Third Congressional District for the Kansas Republican Party. Bob and Do lived in their home at Eleventh and Illinois prior to her move to Presbyterian Manor.
Dorothea is the last remaining member of the immediate Bartz and Evans families of her generation. She is survived by a niece from the Bartz family Doris (Elijah) Touchton of Pittsburg, Kansas, two nephews from the Evans family, Robert (Ruth) Allison of Spring Hill, Kansas and Steve (April) Evans of Lecompton, Kansas and two nieces from the Evans Family, Anita Evans Rounkles of O’Fallon, Illinois and Nancy Evans (Raymond) Schaffer of North Little Rock, Arkansas. She was preceded in death by husband Robert Evans in 1993 and three nieces from the Evans family, Pat Allison (Larry) Mercier of Anaheim, California, Earlene Pierce (Murrel) Dean of Anaheim, CA and Elaine Pierce Siebuhr of Pittsburg, Kansas.
Friends may call from Noon to 8 pm on Wednesday March 26, 2014, at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorial contributions may be made to Plymouth Congregational Church, sent in care of the funeral home.
Online condolences may be made at rumsey-yost.com
