Dorothy (1928) went to Mary Institute, a private college preparatory school for girls in St. Louis. She played doubles on the varsity tennis team, field hockey, basketball, and volley ball. There were only a few tennis matches with other schools in those days. She graduated in 1945. She attended Washington University in St. Louis, just a few blocks from our family home. She graduated in 1949 with a degree in physical education (PE). She joined Delta Gamma Sorority, was elected to Mortar Board, and elected to Phoenix, a physical education honorary society.

From 1949 to 1951 she taught PE at Mary Institute. From 1952 to 1954 she taught PE at University City High School. In 1955 she attended the University of Iowa and obtained a master's degree in PE the following year. She then went to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She taught PE there for five years to students majoring in PE. She taught in the classroom and also taught tennis and bowling. Her students were mainly from rural areas. She returned to St. Louis in 1960 and lived at our family home. From this point on, she lived at home. From 1960 to 1962 she taught PE at John Burroughs, a co-ed preparatory school in Ladue, a suburb of St. Louis. She went there with the objective of eventually becoming head of the girls PE program. That didn't work out as she expected. She returned to University City in 1962 and continued until 1976. She retired from teaching at the age of 48. From then on, she continued to live at home. She assisted Mother with the running of the household and engaged in volunteer activities. And after Mother died in 1967, she ran the household for Dad.

Dorothy spent many summers at Camp Miniwanca. She was a camper, leader, head of athletics, and on the work staff. She met her very good friend Marie Oetting at Camp Miniwanca. Dorothy's last year at Miniwanca was in 1967. While she was at Miniwanca she acquired the nickname, "Peter Duck" while playing tennis. She was at the net and a companion tried to warn her that a hard shot was about to hit her. The companion yelled, "Peter, duck!" Apparently Dorothy was already know at "Peter." In the summers of 1953 to 1955 she had a leadership position at Clearwater Camp in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

In 1977 she began doing volunteer work. First she volunteered at St. Louis Children's Hospital, which was within walking distance of the St. Regis apartment building, where her parents had moved in 1965. She began in the gift shop, where she volunteered for 20 years. Subsequently she stayed with parents as they waited for their child's surgery to be completed and then guided them to the recovery room to visit their child. This volunteer activity eventually ended when the hospital decided to give parents a beeper. She volunteered at the hospital for 31 years and she supported the Hospital with financial contributions. The Hospital's 1999 Annual Report included a two-page article, with picture, describing her volunteer activity and her financial support.

Her other major charitable activity was supporting the Delta Gamma Center for visually impaired children. One of the fund-raising events was selling Christmas trees. She worked the DG Christmas tree lot for many years. In 1997 she made a significant financial contribution to support a program to reach out to new families that need the services of the Center. The program was called the "Dorothy M. Hanpeter EYES Outreach Program." "EYES" stands for "Early Years Education Services." When the Center acquired a building to accommodate its expanding services, Dorothy made another substantial contribution to help renovate the building. Dorothy's name appears above the entrance to the administrative staff office wing.

In 1996, Dorothy sold her St. Regis apartment. She and Paul moved into a spacious apartment on the 16th floor of the Barclay House, a retirement community in Clayton, as suburb of St. Louis. The apartment has unobstructed views to the west and south.

For approximately 50 years Dorothy knitted the Christmas stockings with which we are all familiar. She has knitted more than 1,000 stockings. Initially she gave the stockings as gifts, but later charged $25, a price that did not increase over the years. In 2010, she turned over all of her knitting materials to Calyssa Evans, my sister Betty's granddaughter, who said she would like to carry on this craft. For many years Dorothy made peanut brittle for distribution to friends and family at Christmas.