DOROTHY ISABEL DAVIDSON HEWITT COLBY was born May 13, 1925, in Seattle, Washington, to James Laird Davidson and Lenna Amelia Davidson. Dorothy was one of six children. She was the fourth child in the family and the first daughter. At age three, the family moved to a small farm near Issaquah, Washington, where the family operated a rabbit business. Dorothy graduated from Issaquah High School in 1943. During WWII, she was a journeyman welder in the Seattle Shipyards.
Earl J. Hewitt, from Welsh, Louisiana, was in the army and stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. He was involved in an accident while riding double on a motorcycle with an Army buddy. Earl and his buddy went to the hospital where Dorothy met Earl while visiting her brother, Leonard. Earl and Dorothy married the next year in September 1945. The war ended and, when Earl was released from the Army, they moved to Welsh, Louisiana, where they lived with Earl’s mother.
Dorothy and Earl had five children: Sandra, 1946; Steven, 1948; Wilma, 1950; Alan, 1953; and Juanita (Nita), 1955. While living in Welsh, the family attended the Welsh Church of Christ. Dorothy and her mother-in-law, “Aunt Frankie,” raised a large truck garden each year. They also raised cows for milk and meat and chickens for eggs. Dorothy loved to can tomatoes, fruit, and bake bread. The two ladies drove flatbed trucks when Earl baled hay for others in the summer after days of flying. In July 1957, Earl was killed in an airplane accident. Dorothy’s father and two of her brothers, George and Leonard, helped the family move to Seattle, Washington, so she could be near her parents and extended family.
In May 1959, Dorothy married Lawrence D. Colby and moved to Sumner, Washington. Due to a long commute to Larry’s job at Boeing, they moved closer to the Boeing Company and settled in Renton, Washington. In 1962, Boeing sent the family to Sedalia, Missouri for two years so Larry could work with the Minuteman Missile Program. After two years in Sedalia, the family returned to Renton, Washington.
As James and Lenna’s health declined, Dorothy and Larry moved into a mobile home on the Davidson property in Issaquah, Washington. When Lenna became incapacitated and needed more personal care, they moved into the house with James and Lenna. Dorothy and Larry did a little remodeling to make it all work! Both of Dorothy’s parents passed away over the next few years.
Larry retired from Boeing in 1981. His retirement was short lived as he died from a heart attack in August 1983, and Dorothy was a widow (again). Prior to Larry’s retirement from Boeing, Dorothy and Larry raised rabbits for commercial consumption. Dorothy’s oldest brother, George, helped her raise rabbits for five more years after Larry’s passing.
Dorothy enjoyed pinochle with friends; dancing lessons; archery competitions; trail bike riding, fishing trips to Canada; cruises with Sandra, John, and Wilma; watching and helping Steven and Judy build their house in Auburn, Washington, and helping Nita and Michael (Nita’s husband) improve raw land and build a home in Bonney Lake, Washington. She spent time with Wilma, Virgil, and Wilma’s daughter Shawn and family, at Ashford, Washington, near Mt. Rainier.
Dorothy traveled to the Netherlands, Scotland, and Scandinavia with Sandra, Wilma, Nita, Michael, and her sister, Patricia. She also traveled to Scotland, England, Egypt, and other European locations with her brothers, Frank and Leonard, her sister, Patricia, her sister-in-law, Ruby, and nephews, Butch and Steve. She visited the home in Scotland where her father was raised. She went on camping trips with her nephews, Roy and Keith, and spent time in Arizona with her brother, Laird. She did not stay home very long!
Dorothy’s health started to decline a few years ago and she moved into a retirement center in Renton, Washington, followed by transitioning to full care in an adult family home in Auburn, where she passed away Tuesday, May 7, at 11:00 a.m.
She was predeceased by her parents, all her siblings, their spouses, her stepson Robert, son-in-law Virgil, daughter Wilma, and son-in-law John Sullivan (Sandra). Dorothy is survived by her children Sandra, Steven (Judy), Alan (Karen), and Nita (Michael); and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, great-great nieces, and great-great nephews.
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