She was born Mary Kathryn McElroy, daughter of Ather D. McElroy and Blanche I. McElroy at Godley, Texas on November 9, 1924. She is survived by a brother Jimmy McElroy, her sons Gary Dobkins and his wife Cheryl, Keith Dobkins and his wife Karyn, daughter Renee Perez, grandson Alexander Dobkins, and three great grandchildren Heidi, Heiko, and Heili Dobkins . She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Eugene Paul Dobkins, brother Raymond McElroy and brother Ronnie McElroy.
Funeral services and burial will be 3:00pm Friday January 31st at Laurel Land Ft. Worth
7100 Crowley Rd.
Kathryn grew up on her family's farm and was no stranger to the hard work of that lifestyle, toiling with her father and brothers in the fields, driving a tractor and working with her hands raising and harvesting crops and caring for livestock. She also worked in the kitchen helping her mother prepare the family meals and other household chores. She endured the strains of that lifestyle but also enjoyed the close family bonds and joy and love that come along with it. She took pride in those times of hard work and even hard living. She rode a horse to school during much of her education years, played with baby goats and experienced many other things that were part of a young girl's rural life during that time. Her home life and her schooling helped prepare her in the usual academic subjects (she was even a Spelling Bee champion) but also in the more practical skills. She also had classes such as Home Economics that would help her with everyday life later on. So, she learned to cook, sew and other skills that would help her be a good homemaker as an adult. Her mother was also an excellent teacher of these home skills and Kathryn was a fine student of all the skills both domestic and the more academic.
When she graduated from high school in Grandview Texas she headed to the "big city" of Fort Worth. She held a job at Montgomery Ward, moving around on roller skates to pull orders and another job at a downtown photography studio doing hand tinting and similar tasks on the photographs produced by that studio. She also served with the USO to help with the dances to help entertain the soldiers as part of the war effort which she naturally enjoyed since she loved music and dancing and also the chance to meet young soldiers.
After World War II ended a young soldier named Eugene "Paul" Dobkins returned to his home in Texas and started his working career. Paul and Kathryn met through friends, started dating and fairly soon fell in love and decided to marry and spend the rest of their lives together. A couple of years later they started a family with the birth of a son and went on to later have a second son and then a daughter. Paul and Kathryn were married for a half century until he passed away in 1996. Kathryn was a devoted wife and mother and a tireless and accomplished homemaker. She was a talented seamstress and made many clothing items for herself and later made many items for her daughter Renee.
Kathryn loved music and would often sing around the house as she worked. Even after having her first two children she still felt young enough at heart to tune the TV to "American Bandstand" with Dick Clark to hear some of the latest "rock and roll" artists while she was ironing clothes or some other household chore. Later she was proud to have a daughter who took up the piano and who also played in the marching band of her high school. Music on TV was a treat for her and Paul with shows like Lawrence Welk, Andy Williams, Perry Como and many variety shows that featured singers and musicians always being favorites.
She also loved animals and had cats and dogs as pets over the years. This love for animals particularly blossomed for her and her husband as they became avid birdwatchers. Two pairs of binoculars were always close at hand so they could get a closer look at some bird that had found its way into the backyard. They also packed the binoculars for trips that were sometimes devoted to places known to be havens for bird watching, such as Rockport Texas. And the back yard always had a bird feeder and birdbath that were kept supplied and cleaned.
Kathryn left many wonderful memories behind for all that knew and loved her. Friends, neighbors and especially her family will miss her dearly and carry her in their hearts forever. In her final years she often expressed to her children the longing to leave this world to go and "be with your dad." May we all take comfort in knowing that her wishes have been fulfilled and she now rests peacefully forever by his side.
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