Bethany Maria Dorean

Bethany Maria Dorean was born at home in Jefferson, PA on July 13, 1986. In her early hours and days it was determined that it was not likely that she would live six weeks. She died in an instant at home in Norman, OK, Thursday, February 6, 2020 at the age of thirty-three.

Most lives are measured by jobs performed, titles attained, work accomplished, or degrees earned. By those standards, Beth’s life was pretty insignificant. She did graduate from Jefferson-Morgan High School at the age of 21. Her only title was Usher at the Jefferson Baptist Church where she was baptized and an every week presence. Her work consisted of folding the family wash cloths and putting a panful of roasted almonds in a glass jar - one at a time.

But her life will be measured not by any of those things but by the hundreds of lives - maybe thousands - that she touched. And most of those lives will never be the same for having touched hers. Her joy in life was indefatigable in spite of the myriad of challenges both physical and mental that she faced from birth to death. Set free at an early age from her dependence on others for mobility by the first of several power wheelchairs, she zoomed through our lives with a precision and a passion perhaps unmatched by any with two strong legs.

Among her greatest joys were welcoming new babies into this world and in helping folks at the other end of life out of this world into the glory of heaven. She had plenty of experience at both as she regularly accompanied her dad in his pastoral ministry.

A fierce competitor like her parents and three devoted sisters, her victories in the nightly family bed race, the Jefferson Classic one mile Kid’s Fun Run (the wheelchair division in which she was the only participant) and endless races to the car across parking lots throughout the country gave her a remarkable sense of joy - though it was more the being able to participate than actually winning that mattered most. That same drive served her well in her countless struggles just to survive and her daily challenges to remain cheerful amidst the pain and boredom that she faced.

Bethany loved people - rich or poor (she once took a homeless man by the hand and led him to a seat in worship when he entered her church), young or old, “normal” or specially challenged. She loved talking on the phone anytime, anywhere but especially with several men with whom she chatted every day, every week, asking the same questions of them over and over and over again. She loved to shop - not because she ever bought much of anything (except little note pads or magazines or Bibles of which her family now has quite a pile) - but because it meant time one on one with someone she loved and a change of scenery. Perhaps most of all she loved going to church where she was surrounded by people she loved and who loved her, where she could sing songs she knew well that filled up her spirit, where she could greet any and all who walked in the door.

It took a book to even begin to describe the countless stories of her life, the joys and the struggles that were both almost routine occurrences. Sometimes cranky, always vulnerable, never prideful, she looked forward to her next doctor’s or dentist’s appointment, her next phone call, her next time to go to church, her next time to take a walk with a special friend - because it meant another chance to touch a life she loved.

Bethany is the grand-daughter of the late John and Barbara Posey of Bryn Athyn, PA and the late Bennett and Jeanne Rich of Waynesburg, PA. She is survived by her parents, John and Merry Dorean of Norman Oklahoma, three sisters and brothers-in-law, Emily and Matt Bonner of Norman OK, Ryan Hobert and Carrie Dorean of Washington, D.C. and Craig and Hannah Otteni of Buena Vista, CO, ten nieces and nephews, Asa, Phineas, Samara, Ilo and Renne Bonner, Adelaide and Elsa Hobert, and Clara, Miles and Jane Otteni, and a huge extended family all of whom rejoice that she is now free of the limitations of this physical body and at play with Jesus in the fields of the Kingdom.

A memorial service honoring the life of Bethany and celebrating the resurrection will be held on Saturday, February 15, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. (doors open at 2:00 p.m.) in the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Company, 1483 Jefferson Rd., Jefferson, PA 15344, with the Rev. William Sukolsky officiating. Following the memorial service a meal will be served at the fire hall and the family will greet people at that time.