FREDERICKTOWN – Dorothy Ann Hoovler, 97, passed away Friday morning at WillowBrook Christian Village in Delaware, Ohio, after a brief illness. Born in Columbus on Feb. 4, 1925, to the late Richard and Mary (née Walt) Herbst, she grew up with four sisters and a brother in Cincinnati, mostly at Longview State Hospital, an institution for the mentally ill, where her father served as the groundskeeper and sometime architect, and her mother was the recreation director. Her interaction with the patients, some of whom worked at their house on the hospital grounds, gave her a tenderness toward the mentally ill that she never lost.
As a girl, Dorothy attended the academically strenuous Walnut Hills High School, where she excelled in all of her classes, especially Latin, which she studied for 6 years. Because this was war time, she studied engineering at the University of Cincinnati; then, when her family moved to Pataskala, she worked at Curtiss-Wright Corporation doing materials testing on jet engines to aid the war effort. She transferred to Ohio State, working at Battelle Memorial Institute, post-war, where she switched her major to French and Spanish, since the returning veterans wanted her place in engineering school.
While commuting to Ohio State, Dorothy shared a ride with returning GI Jerry Hoovler. They fell in love and were married in May 28, 1949, a marriage that endured for 58 years. Their four children are Nancy and husband Michael McKibben of Columbus; Carol Phillips of Durham, North Carolina; Patsy and husband Michael Conger of Aurora, Illinois; and Jim and wife Jill of Delaware, Ohio; also eleven grandchildren: Carrie, Max, Susanna, Holly, Rose, and Justin McKibben; Nancy and Mattie Conger; and Stephanie, Katie, and Abby Hoovler; and an additional eleven great-grandchildren who kept Dorothy amused.
Her children remember Dorothy as a fabulous mother, renowned for her Valentine boxes and Halloween costumes (she cut up her wedding gown to make angel costumes for Nancy and Carol.) She served her community as a Cub Scout den mother, church choir mother, classroom volunteer, election poll worker and hospital volunteer (more than 2,000 hours) and served unofficially in many capacities, never too busy to help put up a 4H booth at the county fair, haul her offspring to swim lessons, sew a bridal gown, or watch a great-grandchild's baseball game.
A 50-year resident of Fredericktown, Dorothy assisted her husband in establishing the Hoovler Insurance Agency, where she worked after their children were older, until their retirement in 1987. She served as a voice for her community on the weekly forum of The Coffee Cup, a daily program on local radio station WMVO. She was an inventive and creative person who loved to read, sew, weave, knit, do crosswords and play bridge.
Dorothy delighted in her grandchildren, and the delight was mutual. The doting grandparents acquired a backyard swimming pool to entertain grandchildren on summer visits; they all remember how Dorothy wrapped them in beach towels warm from the dryer at the end of a swim. Another beloved treat was the birthday lunch in a restaurant (often the Alcove or the Chintz Room at Lazarus) paired with a shopping trip to honor the birthday child.
Dorothy and Jerry moved to Delaware, Ohio, in 2007, where son Jim already lived with his family. After Jerry's death in the same year, Dorothy continued as a beloved resident of Austin Manor Apartments (since renamed) for another 15 years, initiating and enjoying many activities with other residents, including morning coffee hour, movies and OSU games in the common lounge, and Halloween parties (one year she went as Chiquita Banana).
Although failing eyesight, hearing loss, and the need for a walker curtailed Dorothy's activities in later years, she was always ready for a lunch or dinner date, often followed by a look through the local Goodwill or antique store. She became ill at the beginning of October, but still managed to remember and mark the late-September birthdays of two of her great-grandchildren.
Dorothy will be remembered for her wit, her kindness, her generosity, her lively intelligence, her loyalty, her dry sense of humor, and her ability to laugh at herself. And most of all, for her unswerving love for and dedication to her family and friends.
The family will receive friends on Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 4 - 7 p.m. at the Snyder Funeral Home of Fredericktown, 33 East College St., Fredericktown, OH 43019. The family will observe a private graveside service at a later date in Forest Cemetery in Fredericktown.
Contributions in Dorothy’s memory may be made to the Foundation for Knox Community Hospital, 1330 Coshocton Ave., Mount Vernon, OH 43050, or by visiting www.foundationkch.org/donate.
The Snyder Funeral Homes of Delaware and Fredericktown are honored to serve the Hoovler family.
To share a fond memory of Dorothy or to offer a condolence to her family, please visit www.snyderfuneralhomes.com.
