Dorothy Ann Fowler

Dorothy (Dot) Ann Fowler, a truly unique spirit, went to be with our Lord Jesus, on Friday, June 20, 2025. She was a long-time resident of Balboa CA, Huntington Beach CA, 1000 Palms CA, and Lancaster Ohio.

Dot was born in Lancaster OH on Monday, October 13, 1930 to Wesley and Mary Ester (Shaw) Fowler. Given the devastating effects of the Great Depression, her parents decided to move for more promising prospects to California, around 1932. Along with her brother John, the family ultimately settled in Balboa, CA, where her father established Fowler’s Landing, a charter boat business in Newport Bay.

Until she was 25, Dot lived along the oceanfront in Balboa, in sight of the original Newport Pier (which she remembers being destroyed by a hurricane in 1939). She fondly remembered growing up on the beach and being able to walk around Balboa, the Fun Zone, and swim at its nearby beach in more carefree, childhood times. Dot was a lifetime lover of the big band era, many of which played at the Balboa Pavilion and the Rendezvous. Dot often spent the summers in Lancaster, Ohio, usually traveling by train, and staying at both her grandparent’s home and their cottage at the Methodist Campground.

Dot graduated from Newport Harbor High CA in 1947 and then attended college at Orange Coast College, San Jose State College, and Long Beach State College, where she received a degree in Education in 1954. She later earned a Master’s degree at Pepperdine University in Early Childhood Education. Dot was a Kindergarten teacher and served with the Department of Defense, teaching children of DoD personnel in Germany and Japan, and the California Public Schools System in Huntington Beach, before retiring.

Throughout her lifetime, Dot enjoyed traveling to different cultures and visiting historical sites. She traveled extensively, including throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Russia, Israel, Kenya, and Colombia.

Dot loved the outdoors and would often camp out with friends throughout the forests in California, well into her 70’s. Dot always had a fondness and excelled at sports, in particular participating in swimming, tennis, and golf. She was an avid game player, particularly cards. She also enjoyed watching sports on television, particularly tennis and the Ohio State football team. To say Dot was a Buckeyes fan would be to severely understate her devotion to her beloved Buckeyes, often calling friends with play-by-play commentary during games.

Once she retired, she took up stamping, creating many beautiful cards and sharing this skill with younger generations within her family and young children at the Lancaster Methodist Campground. In Ohio, she learned the art of basket weaving and became quite skilled at it. Many family members and friends still have baskets she made over 20-30 years ago.

Of all the holidays, Dot enjoyed Christmas the most. She would decorate her own tree at home with her ornaments dating back to when she was a child. She would then travel to see her grandnieces and grandnephews, and then her great grandnieces and great grandnephews to celebrate Christmas. The main event was making Christmas cookies and decorating them as a family to have and to give to neighbors, sometimes producing up to 150 cookies.

Around 1990, Dot bought a run-down cottage at the Methodist Campground in Lancaster and spent the next two summers rehabilitating the cottage. She spent late spring to early fall there until she was 92. She was a generous supporter of efforts to restore the historic campground Auditorium. Some of her comedic appearances at the campground talent shows are remembered to this day.

Throughout her lifetime, Dorothy was a devout Christian, not only in word but in deed. She was loving and caring, nurturing, uplifting those in difficult times, and known to be generous to a fault. Although tested at times, her faith in our Savior never faltered.

Dot was preceded in death by her father, mother, brother, and nephew, John Steven Fowler. She is survived by three nephews and their spouses: Jim and Nelly Fowler (Rancho Santa Margarita), Dave and Sue Fowler (Port Charlotte, FL), and Paul and DeeDee Fowler (Lake Forest, CA), seven grandnieces, four grandnephews, four great grandnieces, and nine great grandnephews.

Funeral services are scheduled at Pacific View Cemetery, Saturday, August 16, 2025, at 2 PM. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Samaritan’s Purse, an organization which follows God’s desire for us to help those in desperate need wherever we find them.