Dorothy Louise Coovert

My name is Dorothy Louise Coovert, and I am one of the last of the Greatest Generation. Born March 9, 1922, in Louisville, Kentucky, I was number 7 out of 13 siblings. When I was 12 years old during the Great Depression, my father died. I left school at eighth grade to take care of my younger brothers and sisters. As I got older, the Country was preparing for war in Europe, I went to work for a bullet factory. I met my husband at a USO dance near Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was a soldier in the U.S. Army Armour Corps from Ohio. We dated for about a year and were married February 4, 1944. Soon afterwards my husband and the 12th Armour Division deployed to Europe. I was like many young women worried if my husband would be killed, and how I was going to raise a baby on my own.

After the war, my husband returned home for several years until the Army found him again, but this time the Army not only recruited my husband, but also me along with our children. The Army assigned us to Germany then to Fort Benjamin Harris; Japan; Fort Benjamin Harris; second tour in Germany. In 1963. I crossed the Atlantic Ocean again back to America. In 1963, we landed in NYC. We took our four boys and drove our new Dodge to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Never saw such flat land and red dirt. Several years later, the Army deployed my husband to Vietnam. Again, I was a mother raising my two youngest sons worried if they will have a father when they return from Vietnam. A year later, my husband returned home, and the family moved to Fort Meade, Maryland. Several years later we retired from the Army after serving for 30 years. We returned to Oklahoma and raised our youngest son. While visiting my sister in Florida, I never saw such a beautiful place. So once again, we moved in 1983, but this time it was to warmer climate Punta Gorda, Florida. The love of my life, Henry Coovert, died in 1993. The last thirty years have been a blessing to be with my loving sons, Mike, Paul, Jack and Scott, and their beautiful wives and children.

Dorothy Coovert died at home on February 26, 2024, and will be buried with her husband, SGM Henry Coovert. Service and Visitation will be at Hodges Funeral Home at Lee Memorial Park, 12777 State Road 82, Fort Myers, Florida 33913, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, from 4 to 6 pm. Burial and a Commital Service will be at Sarasota National Cemetery, Thursday, March 7, 2024, at 10 am.