Dolores Frances Herbst

December 18, 1925 – April 18, 2023

Dolores Herbst, a longtime Hawthorne resident, peacefully passed to heavenly glory on April 18, 2023. She was 97 years old.

She was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 18, 1925 to Augusta (aka Dolores) and Francis Wendell. Her mother was one of eight siblings which meant Dolores, as an only child, had an army of cousins to play with and get into mischief. Because her name was the same as her mother’s, she became known in her large extended family as “Babe”.

After divorce, her mother remarried and in 1936 she came to California with her mom and stepdad settling in Culver City. Her father remarried and Dolores eventually became sister to Genevieve, Mary and Bob Wendell. She loved her siblings and stayed closed and in contact all through the years. While her mother ran a diner in Culver City’s Hal Roach Studios and becoming known for her delicious fried chicken, Dolores took tap dancing lessons and developed her love of singing. While attending Hamilton High School she began singing with a local big band at school dances and other events. During World War II she sang with that band at a number of USO sponsored events.

After graduating high school, she began working for Bank of America in Venice where she excelled in typing and shorthand and eventually was promoted to be the branch manager’s secretary. One fateful evening in 1946, she went dancing at the Palladium in Hollywood with friends from the bank and was asked to dance by a young man named Vernon. They danced the whole evening and after a number of dates fell madly in love and were married in 1948. The newlyweds initially lived in Inglewood but eventually moved to Hawthorne in 1952 as Vernon was then involved in the startup of a new savings and loan in Hawthorne. In the early days of Hawthorne Savings, with Vernon being in charge of loans and escrows, Dolores would use her typing and knowledge of escrows to come in after hours to work on files. It was a real team effort and Dolores played a big part in the establishment of this new financial institution where Vernon would eventually become president and grow it to over $1 billion in assets. 1952 also marked a year where a young pastor named Andy Anderson came knocking on their door inviting them to visit Trinity Lutheran Church just down the street. That visit changed the direction of their lives and brought the Herbst family to a place where they experienced a relationship with the living God.

In 1952 Sharon was the first born, Douglas came along in 1955 and then Marleen arrived on scene as their third child in 1960. She was a wonderful mother mixing love and nurturing with reasonable discipline. It was so evident she loved her family and poured her entire self into being a mother and a wife. One of dad’s passions was to hunt ducks and geese and mom stepped right up and learned how to shoot and be part of it all. She became a pretty good hunter and occasionally shot more birds than dad. She was also dad’s number one supporter whether it would be going on business trips, being a part of his Kiwanis Club activities or just running the household and always have dinner ready at 6:00. Dolores was very active at church where she sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, was part of the Quilters group and occasionally wrote songs that she’d pitch to the pastors.

As mom and dad grew older it seemed they were inseparable. And in July, 2018 the entire family was on hand to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful time to cherish and celebrate these two wonderful people. In May 2019 Vernon passed away. Dolores missed him dearly but always had the eternal hope that one day they would be reunited and we believe this is exactly what happened. Dolores and Vern together again and dancing away on a golden floor in Heaven.

Dolores is predeceased by her husband Vernon and brother Bob Wendell and is survived by her sisters Genevieve Scaro and Mary Wendell, her daughter and son-in-law, Sharon & Warren Carlson; son and daughter-in-law Douglas & Leisa Herbst; daughter Marleen Weisz; grandchildren Joshua (ShaQuana) Carlson, David (Chelsea) Carlson, Rachel (Andrew) Donnelly, Paul (Kara) Herbst, Timothy (Judy) Carlson, Rebecca (Daniel) Madrigal, Ashlee (Chris) Doyle and 14 great-grandchildren with another great-granddaughter due May 24.