Dorothy Helen Baertsch Wilkinson

One of seven children, Dorothy (Dot) was born May 4, 1919, during a spring blizzard in Bismarck, ND. Her dad said Dot was so small they had to shake the blankets to find her. Once found and nurtured, she surprised everyone by living to age 104.

She graduated business college in Bismarck in 1937, and then took a train to join her sister Charlotte in Washington D.C. where jobs were plentiful. There she met and married H.E. (Peck) Wilkinson, Jr. of Shelby, MS, on September 8, 1942. Dot was employed at the Marine Corp Headquarters office and Peck served as an aide to a Mississippi congressman. The newlyweds honeymooned in New York City, and soon afterwards she returned to North Dakota while Peck served the US Army in the Pacific Theatre.

After the war, Dot and Peck settled in his hometown of Shelby, MS. There they started a family and had four children. She stayed busy raising her kids and when they were older she began work at the Shaw-Shelby Insurance Agency. She was a longtime member of the Shelby Methodist Church and helped with the Sunday school classes. The couple retired in Shelby in 1982, and moved to Boulder in 1997 to be closer to their children. Her favorite pastime was playing piano. She played by ear and spent many hours at the keyboard with her old favorites and working out new melodies. She enjoyed sitting on the back patio in her big, white rocking chair and watching the wildlife that wandered through. Dot and Peck lived out the remainder of their lives in their Boulder home with he pre-deceasing her the day after Thanksgiving in 2016 at age 100 after 74 years of marriage.

Dot is survived by her children, Ginger (Hiroshi) Ikeda of Boulder, CO, H.E. (Anne) of Oro Valley, AZ, Bob (Joan) of Boulder, CO, and Lori (Dave) Chapman of Shawnee, KS. She is survived by seven grandchildren, Michael, Jenna, Kate, Jess, Yosei, Kylie, Rachael, and two great grandsons, Camden and Braden. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, H.E.; her parents Orin Alfred and Flossie Jones Baertsch; four brothers - Orin (Evelyn), Donald (Donna), Dwight (Dodie), Bob (Kathryn) and two sisters - Charlotte Latham (James) and Donna Jensen (John).

The family wishes to gratefully acknowledge the loving care and devotion provided Dot in her final years by private and professional caregivers. The family also thanks the staffs of Trail Winds Hospice and Bloom HealthCare who provided compassionate guidance and care during her final months.

Dot's ashes will be interred according to her wishes in Shelby Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to your charity of choice.