Margaret Hemenway Dodendorf

Margaret Hemenway Dodendorf, died February 20, 2024, at Carmel Valley Manor where she resided since 1990. Margaret was born June 24, 1920, in Ann Arbor, MI. Her parents were Mary and John Hemenway. When she was still a baby, the family moved to St. Paul, MN where her father was a Professor of physics at St. Thomas University.

Her father died when Margaret was 8 years old and her mother died when she was 12 years old. After the untimely death of both of her parents, Margaret and her sister, Agnes, went to live with their paternal grandparents in DeKalb Junction, NY.

Margaret completed high school and two years of secretarial training at the Watertown School of Commerce. She worked in various cities in upstate New York.

During World War II, she proudly served in the Waves, USN and honorably discharged. The Navy featured her service during Woman's History Month last March.

She then returned to Syracuse, NY, where she worked at Syracuse University until she moved to Pasadena, CA in 1949, Margaret worked at the California Institute of Technology until 1953, when she entered the Foreign Service, spending 2 years in Tehran, Iran and a year in Bangkok, Thailand. She retired from the Foreign Service and settled in San Francisco, CA where she worked at Bechtel Corp.

On April 30, 1972, she married Raymond L. Dodendorf, Jr., a friend from the World War II Navy days and joined him in Omaha, NE, until his untimely death in December 1975. In 1990, Margaret moved to Carmel Valley Manor retirement community.

She was subsequently predeceased by her sister, Agnes Pape, and her step-daughter, Jackie McCabe. She is survived by three step-children; Robert Dodendorf, Jody D. Grewe-Gasnick, and Julie Oberembt; niece and nephew, John and Kara; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A private funeral service will be later this Spring in Columbus, NE where her cremains will be interred next to Ray.

The family would like to thank the staff of CVM Hospital for the loving care they gave Margaret.