Dorothy L. Haberly

Dorothy Richey Haberly -- Born July 8, 1921 in Boring, Oregon to Nora Mae Yerkes and Raymond Edwin Richey; died April 22, 2011 at her home in Woodland Hills, CA. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, friend, gardener, legal secretary, office manager, and Lakers fanatic, Dorothy never lost her positive attitude and sharp mind even as cancer stole her strength. Dorothy was very proud of her Oregon Pioneer ancestry. She descended from one of the hardy pioneer families that migrated along the Oregon Trail by foot and oxen-pulled Prairie Schooner covered wagons. This grueling trip of some 2,000 miles began in April 1852, with her ancestors finally arriving at the Cascades Locks six months later in October 1852, finally settling on homesteads in Pleasant Valley near present day Gresham, OR. Dorothy was raised in Boring, OR, and graduated from Sandy High School in 1939. She married Adolph Albert "Jack" Haberly on June 25, 1946 who had served in the Navy in the South Pacific in World War II. She worked as a secretary for many years honing her typing and shorthand skills, and once was the winner of an Oregon state typing contest, receiving a Royal (manual style) typewriter as a prize that she kept as a memento, long after computers made typewriters obsolete. She and Jack raised three sons together; James, Norman, and Brian. They lived in Eugene, OR, San Antonio, TX, Idaho Falls, ID, Great Falls, MT, Moses Lake, WA, and Novato, CA before finally settling down in Woodland Hills, CA. After Jack passed away in 1964, Dorothy returned to work as a secretary to Pastor Robert Wells, the long-time pastor of the First Baptist Church in Reseda, CA. She took subsequent positions as a legal secretary for the Los Angeles office of a prominent national law firm, Jones Day, finally becoming office manager of a Chatsworth, CA software company. As a single mother, Dorothy worked hard and put her three sons through college and she continued to help her grandchildren with their college educations. While her sons were younger and still living at home, she loved baking and decorating whimsical cakes for themed birthday parties. She was fond of sharing memories of summer vacations spent at the family farm in Boring, OR, where Dorothy and her three sisters would gather with their respective families and cousins young and old would help stack hay on the farm or pick strawberries to earn some spending money, often spending it on soft serve ice cream at a Gresham burger joint. Having grown up on a farm, Dorothy was a life-long gardener, and often enjoyed having tomatoes, peas, or fruit trees in her yard. She lived and breathed LA Lakers basketball, and often scheduled her days around game times. She loved reading, swimming, her dogs, watching hummingbirds, doing jig-saw puzzles, Sudoku, and her church, but most of all she loved being a mother and grandmother. She will be greatly missed.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband Jack (1964) and her sister Lucena Richey Smith (1988). She is survived by sons James (Ava), Norman, and Brian (Peggy); and grandchildren Ariel, Justin, Brandon and Kelsey. She leaves behind her beloved sisters, Loreta Richey Moore and Ruth Richey Scott. We would like to extend special thanks to Dorothy's devoted in-home caregivers.

Funeral services are being performed by Bateman Carroll Funeral Home in Gresham at 3 pm on Saturday, April 30, 2011. In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to the John Wayne Cancer Institute (http://www.jwci.org) (you may donate online at http://www.jwci.org/how-to-help.aspx?id=80). Please sign the on-line Guest Book for Dorothy at www.batemancarrollfunerals.com.