Dorothy May Murrow

Dorothy May Coulter was born on February 12, 1929, on a farm just outside Helena, Oklahoma, to Howard and Minnie Coulter. She recalled that her parents were quite busy with farm chores while she was young, and although she had an older sister, Catherine, whom she loved very much, Dorothy found that her favorite playmates were the farm cats. She would dress them in clothes, push them around in her toy baby buggy, and (much to Catherine’s chagrin) let them sleep in the feather bed the two girls shared in the attic bedroom. Dorothy had many fond memories of two cats in particular from those days of living on the farm, Fluffy and Butterball, who were extra-special fur-friends. As with most farm families of the era, the Coulters were of modest financial means, so Dorothy did not have a large selection of toys; paper dolls were a favorite, as well as a soft doll with a papier mache head that she kept for the rest of her life.

A few years after Dorothy was born, the family moved to nearby McWillie, Oklahoma where she went to school in a true one-room schoolhouse where all grades were taught together up through 8th grade, and Dorothy recounted a story of the teacher having Dorothy and one of her friends over for a sleepover at the teacher’s house.

When Dorothy was seven years old, her father was tragically killed in an accident, so Minnie moved the family to nearby Helena, Oklahoma, where Minnie would work as a waitress, cook, pie-baker and bread maker, clothes launderer, house cleaner, and many other odd jobs.

The Great Depression made for very hard times in rural Oklahoma. Minnie, Catherine, and Dorothy moved to Carmen, Oklahoma and then to Cherokee, Oklahoma where she attended Cherokee High School.

Minnie remarried and left Cherokee to live with her second husband on his farm and Dorothy stayed in Cherokee to complete her education. While in school, she worked briefly as a waitress at a local restaurant, and then for Southwestern Bell as a telephone operator in the evenings. Since the county only had one telephone operator on duty at a time, and since all connections were made by hand in those days, it was a position of great responsibility for young Dorothy.

It was in Cherokee that Dorothy met one of her best life-long friends, Doris Pantel. The two were practically inseparable, so when Doris was asked out by a young man she was interested in, she was able to talk Dorothy into making it a double-date with the young man’s cousin, whom Dorothy had never met.

Dorothy’s blind date was a young man from nearby Alva named Raymond Murrow. Tall, slender, and handsome, Raymond had recently returned from serving in the Navy SeaBees in World War II. Raymond definitely liked Dorothy, and she reciprocated. The two dated for a while until Raymond proposed the summer before Dorothy’s senior year. However, Dorothy was determined to finish high school and declined the offer at that time.

Undeterred, Raymond gave Dorothy a hope chest in the following months. The day that Dorothy graduated, Raymond was waiting and asked again if she would marry him. Dorothy gladly said “yes”. The two were married in the farmhouse where Minnie lived near Yewed, Oklahoma. Dorothy’s sister Catherine was her maid of honor, and Raymond’s brother Max was his best man.

Dorothy and Raymond first lived in Alva, Oklahoma, where Raymond had a job working for Woods County, building and maintaining roads and bridges with the skills he had acquired in the SeaBees. Dorothy transferred her telephone operator position to the Alva office. It wasn’t long before Raymond was offered a higher-paying job with Clarence L Boyd Company in Oklahoma City. Raymond’s new employer sold and serviced heavy equipment, and Raymond had a secure job servicing and repairing heavy equipment, as well as training purchasers on the operation of bulldozers, earth movers, road graders, and other construction equipment. Dorothy again was able to transfer to the Southwestern Bell office in Oklahoma City as a telephone operator and was also promoted to a supervisory position.

Dorothy adopted two pedigreed Siamese cats, Bo and Licky. She intended to breed them and sell the kittens, but it took only one or two litters to realize that parting with the adorable little fluffballs was just too heart-wrenching. Dorothy and Raymond lived a fun life together, seeing friends and taking trips to such popular destinations of the period as the Arbuckle Mountains in Oklahoma and Rockaway Beach in Missouri.

Dorothy and Raymond moved to Kansas in 1953 and her husband became a police officer for the City of Wichita. Dorothy transferred to the Southwestern Bell office in Wichita and worked as a supervisor. At the Wichita office, Dorothy met Virginia Miller. The two worked together and remained friends for the rest of their lives.

In 1959 Dorothy left her job at Southwestern Bell to focus on her new career as a mom. Dorothy worked tirelessly as mothers do to raise her first child, Carol, and soon after, her second child, Keith.

Being an accomplished seamstress, Dorothy made clothes for the family, a skill which she would later teach to Carol. She also became active in school PTAs and enjoyed bowling in weekly leagues with other PTA mothers and friends.

Dorothy always loved animals, especially her cats: Stripes, Shadow, Puff, Sparkle, Tiger, Raven, Duchess, Mr. Whiskers, and Zoey, and her dog Maggie. She loved each and every one of them and cared for them as part of her family. Dorothy also loved watching the birds in her back yard.

Dorothy was a devoted member of the Methodist Church, attending services regularly and making sure everyone got up early on Easter Sunday to attend Sunrise Services. She and her friends, informally dubbed “The Church Ladies” by family, always got there early so they could take their customary seats in the back row of the chapel.

As the children grew older, there were family vacations to Colorado in the summer; trips to see Dorothy’s mother in Oklahoma and Ray’s mother in New Mexico. For a time, Dorothy and Ray owned a camper trailer that accompanied the family on trips to many far-flung destinations such as Yellowstone National Park and Table Rock Lake.

In November of 1977, Raymond unexpectedly passed away. Dorothy was devastated but bravely took on all of the challenges of life after losing a partner. She was strong and loving, and was always there for her children and friends whenever they needed support or a helping hand. Dorothy never remarried because she said she could never replace the love of her life.

Dorothy began volunteering at St. Joseph Medical Center in the late 1970s. She met many new friends while there, including Betty Jones. Betty and Dorothy could laugh and kid each other all day long – they were two peas in a pod, a friendship that would last nearly 40 years.

Dorothy then took a position as Volunteer Coordinator for St. Joe. Dorothy was beloved by those who volunteered at the hospital - she was always kind, patient, and diplomatic regardless of the situation, and she helped ensure the Volunteer department served the patients and staff of the hospital with dedication and compassion until retiring in 1999.

In the 1990s, Dorothy and Catherine were delighted to reconnect with their half-sister Marilyn, who they had never had the opportunity to get to know during childhood. Though Marilyn lived in Ohio, the sisters were able to meet in-person several times and always stayed in touch via phone calls.

She made the most of her retirement, working extensively on gardening and landscaping projects at her house, getting together with her friends and family, and babysitting grandkids. Dorothy loved her home and the life she had made after Ray’s passing. She hoped to stay in her home forever, however in 2016, dementia and Alzheimer’s forced her to move into an assisted living facility.

Dorothy grew increasingly frail and lost more and more of her memories as time went by. After struggling for ten years with the changes caused by dementia and Alzheimer’s, she passed away peacefully on January 25, 2026, eighteen days before her 97th birthday.

Throughout her life, Dorothy was always a kind, loving person who had a sense of humor and treasured the time she spent with friends and family. She was resilient in the face of adversity and stayed true to her religious faith. She loved looking after stray animals and feeding the birds. She made sure everyone washed their hands regularly. And always, she loved cats.

A visitation will be held at Resthaven Mortuary, located at 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS, 67209, on January 31, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.

The funeral service will follow at the same location, beginning at 1:00 pm.

A committal service will take place at Resthaven Gardens of Memory, also at 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS, 67209, on January 31, 2026, starting at 2:00 pm.