Dorothy A. Pettersen passed away peacefully on May 18, 2022 at home in Clinton, Missouri with members of the family present.
She was born on March 19,1929 in El Dorado, Kansas. Dorothy was the oldest daughter of John S. Barwick and Gladys L. (Casey) Barwick. Called “Daby” by Eta W. D. Buenting Casey & Addison J. Casey, her grandparents. “Daby” stood for Dorothy Ann Barwick. Growing up, she lived in El Dorado, KS and Paola, KS, Wichita, KS, and while her father was away during WWII, Guthrie, OK. There she joined the Rainbow Girls. She went to Guthrie High School in Guthrie and then later, to Wichita East High School, where she graduated. Between her Junior and Senior year, she attended Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan. She was proficient in both cello and flute.
She attended Wichita University majoring in music. Her studies were interrupted when her father took the family to Punta Arenas, Chile where he was involved in working for the Chilean government. While in Chile, she attended the University of Chile, in Santiago, where she studied the cello.
She returned to Punta Arenas and was a member of the Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestral Ensemble. Throughout her life, she was always interested and active in tennis, golf, and skiing. She sewed her and her father’s tennis clothes and all of her little sister’s clothes. While in Punta Arenas, she was in a published magazine photograph that was used to advertise the local ski resort.
At a party in Punta Arenas, she met her future husband, Kenneth C. Pettersen, challenged him to a footrace, and won. For some reason he came back, they starting dating, and got married on September 5th, 1952 in Punta Arenas. She was unable to get flowers for her wedding because Eva Peron had recently died and the flower shops in Punta Arenas had shipped all their flowers to Argentina for the funeral. She made her own wedding gown. She ended up getting a flower for that gown from her own flower bed. After their honeymoon in Argentina, they settled in Cerro Castillo, in southern Chile where her husband was an Assistant Manager with Sociedad de Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego, a big corporation that ran large sheep ranching operations in southern Chile. She had her first son, John, while living in Cerro Castillo.
In 1955, she, and her family came up to the United States and settled near Crescent, Oklahoma. They established Wolf Creek Sheep Ranch, the largest sheep operation in Oklahoma at the time. While there, her other two sons Keith and Robert were born. In 1962, she and her husband, Ken, took the family up to Wichita and they both attended Wichita University. She got her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish there in 1964. The family moved to Madison, Wisconsin to allow both of them to pursue graduate studies. After attending University of Wisconsin in 1964-65, they returned to Wichita. She then completed her MA at Wichita State University in 1970.
While she was advancing in her education, she began working as a teacher and continued this for many years. She taught Spanish and English at the grade school, middle school, and high school levels. After retiring, she taught preschool for a while. During the 1970’s, she got a Real Estate license and Broker’s license and was in the business for a time.
After retiring again, she followed her love of travel. She traveled by bus, train, car and cruise ship over a great portion of the world. She visited cities as far east as St. Petersburg, Russia and as far west as Melbourne, Australia, as far south as Cape Horn, Chile, South America, and as far north as Nordkapp, Norway.
She is survived by her sister, Elizabeth (Betty) Ball, and three sons, John C. Pettersen, Keith A. Pettersen, and Robert C. Pettersen. Dorothy had four grandchildren: Eric, Leif, Jennifer, and Matthew Pettersen. She had four great grandchildren: Talin Pettersen and Millie, Ivy, and Jonas Melcher.
Family was always her top priority. Throughout her life, her focus was on her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was a positive influence on all of them.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Vansant-Mills Funeral Home, Clinton, Missouri. Inurnment will be at Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma.