Dorothy Z Cheshire

October 15, 1913 ~ March 31, 2011

Dorothy ”Booshi” Cheshire, age 97 years, passed away peacefully in the early morning of Thursday, March 31, 2011 at her residence. For the past 5 years, she had lived happily at Stafford Suites, Sumner, where she made many friends, both seniors and young adults (staff). A lifelong devout Catholic, she was a member of St. Andrew’s Parish, Sumner.

Dorothy was born on October 15th, 1913 in Salem Massachusetts to Ignatius and Helena Smerczynski Zabrowski. She was one of six children, two sisters and three brothers; all of her siblings predeceased her.

As a young woman, she moved to Washington DC for career advancement. Dorothy was a statistician for the government, working at the Pentagon, and later at Ft. Belvoir VA. While there, she met the Southern gentleman for her, Lehman F. Cheshire Sr. They were married on September 12th, 1946. One son, Lee Cheshire, was born of this 29 year union. As Dorothy’s husband was in the Air Force, travel was a part of their lives, being stationed in Germany, Alaska and Maryland. Later in life, she worked at J.C. Penney’s as a hobby, and for a way to continue her enjoyment of interacting with people. She was a Red Cross volunteer for many years at Andrews AFB Hospital in Maryland for many years.

When family moved to the West Coast, Dorothy made a spunky transition at the age of 92 to a new life at Stafford Suites. Bingo and day trips to the casinos were her two favorite activities, as well as interacting with the young staff members.

After becoming a widow at the age of 62, the focus of her life was her son and his family, wife Anne, and the lives of two grandsons Kristopher and Daniel. She overcame her fear of flying in order to visit her grandchildren. In October 2010, she celebrated another generation with the birth of her first great granddaughter, Ainslie.

A Funeral Mass will be conducted at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Sumner, WA on Wednesday, April 6 at 1:30. As were her wishes, she will be buried with her husband at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington DC