Dorothy Phillips

Dorothy on the phone

Dorothy Marie (Dotti) Phillips, loving wife, mother, and grandmother, went to be with the Lord on November 3, 2009, at the age of 87.  She was born in Bloomfield, Nebraska to Frank and Edith Phillips on October 22, 1922.  Her grandfather was a sheriff in the area at the time and her father was an auctioneer.  Her father, who had delivered horses to the Seattle Fire Department shortly after the turn of the 20th Century, started moving the family West not long after Dotti’s birth.  They lived on Flathead Lake, Montana, and Lewiston, Idaho, before settling in Camas, Washington, where Dotti graduated from Camas High School.  She attended Linfield College in Oregon, and joined the WWII war effort where she served as a civilian secretary with the US Army Transportation Corps at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and was involved with transporting troops to the Asian Theater of the war.  It was here that she met her husband, Robert Owen Phillips, the night before he sailed overseas.  They were married by the President of Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, on September 30, 1946.  Dotti and her husband moved to the Pacific Northwest a few months after their wedding and spent nine years in the Portland, Oregon area where their daughters Linda and Robyn were born.  Dotti dutifully followed her husband’s business career which included three years each in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Pittsburgh.  A third daughter, Rebecca, was born in Philadelphia.  In 1964, the family returned to the Northwest, to Seattle where they remained.  
 
Dotti had an impact in every community in which she lived.  She was instrumental in the establishment of the Center for Speech and Hearing in Portland; she was Citizen of the Month in Pittsburch for civic and charitable activities.  After arriving in Seattle, she became active in education and served with her husband on the Committee of 100, studying Continuous Progress Education, after which she and her husband wrote the minority report which made the editorial pages of both papers.  She also served as President of the Seattle Chapter of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.  Under her leadership, money was raised and there was a dedication of the State of Washington acre at the Medal of Honor Grove at Valley Forge, PA.  She also assisted in the installation of the replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Olympia.
 

Dorothy and Robert

Dotti was preceded in death by her brother Eugene Phillips, and sister, Charlotte Dodson. 
She is survived by her husband, Bob; daughters Linda (Scott) Larsen of Hopewell Junction, NY; Robyn (Walt) Madson of Yakima, WA; Rebecca (Charles) Cupp of Fullerton, CA; eight grandchildren Shawna (Bret) Reynolds-Reinhardt of Zionsville, IN; Adam (Amy) Madson of Oak Harbor, WA; Jason Reynolds of Poughkeepsie, NY; Catherine Madson of Kirkland, WA; Owen Cupp, Jared Cupp, Myles Cupp and Austin Cupp all of Fullerton, CA; and one great grandchild,  Brianne Reinhardt.  She was a member of Lamb of God Lutheran Church.

Her family is grateful for her hard work, love and support throughout the years, and for her legacy of her belief in a loving God. We praise Him for her life.