Dorothy R. Gerhart

Dorothy Rowley Gerhart, 91, a retired accounts manager and Red Cross volunteer, died 22 July at her Greenspring residence in Springfield. She was a long time resident of the Panama Canal Zone and in various locations in Germany until moving with her family to Silver Spring in 1983 and subsequently to Greenspring Retirement Community in 2015 after the passing of her husband James.

Her death was confirmed by the medical staff at Greenspring.

Dorothy Joan Rowley was born in Jamaica, Long Island. She moved with her parents as a child to the Canal Zone, where her father was employed as a tugboat master with the Panama Canal Company, Marine Division. She graduated from Cristobal High School, Canal Zone, in 1951, and later attended Canal Zone College. While in high school, she served as a Worthy Advisor, Cristobal Chapter, Order of Rainbows for Girls.

She served in the Navy including the Korean War from 1952 to 1955, assigned as a Yeoman 3rd class to the North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego. Her duties were as secretary to the station’s Operations Officer She returned to the Canal Zone in l956 and worked in the field of budget and accounting management with Army units there until 1970. These included the Interamerican Geodetic Survey (IAGS), Tropic Test Center, US Army Southern Command Comptroller, and the 470th Military Intelligence Group.

In 1968 she married James Gerhart, an Army civilian working in the Canal Zone, while on a tour to Costa Rica.

She subsequently traveled with him to overseas assignments in West Berlin and Heidelberg, Germany; then a second tour in the Canal Zone, and a Washington area assignment in the l980s, when they established residence in Silver Spring and she worked as an office manager for an architectural firm in Silver Spring until their next move to Heidelberg, Germany during the 1990’s. While in Heidelberg, she worked for a communications contractor for the Army.

During their second tour in the Canal Zone, she worked as an accounts manager for the Panama Canal Commission (formerly Panama Canal Company) Accounting Division and received a civil service retirement in 1983.

Mrs. Gerhart accumulated over ten years of service as a Red Cross volunteer at the Army Hospital in West Berlin and at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. She also had volunteer service with the Armed Forces Hostess Association (AFHA) in the Pentagon and at the White House Correspondence Center.

Her memberships included All Saints Church in Chevy Chase, the Army Officers Wives Club of the Greater Washington Area (AOWCGWA), Ft Myer, the Order of Eastern Star, and the American Legion.

Her first marriage, to Robert Powers, ended in divorce. She was predeceased by her second husband, James Gerhart after which she relocated to the Greenspring Retirement Community in Springfield, Virginia until her passing.

Survivors include her son from her first marriage, Kenneth Gerhart of Arlington; two children from her second marriage, Suzanne (Sean) George of Springfield and Brian (Olga) Gerhart of Washington, and four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests you consider a contribution to the Panama Canal Museum in Dorothy's honor by using one of the methods below:

To make a gift by check, please make your check payable to the University of Florida Foundation/PCMC Endowment #017606. Please mail the check to the Office of Development, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117000, Gainesville, FL 32611-7000.

To make a gift with a credit card, please call the UF Foundation’s Gift Processing toll-free number: 1-877-351-2377 (and mention Fund #017606) OR give online at https://www.uff.ufl.edu/give-now/?fund_id=017605.

A visitation for Dorothy will be held Wednesday, July 30, 2025 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM with a memorial service following from 4:00 - 5:00 PM at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, VA 22151.