Dorothy A. Ressler 1905-2002

RESSLER, KEPLER, BELL

Posted By: Lori Clark (email)
Date: 10/9/2002 at 15:22:59

Dorothy A. Ressler, age 96 formerly of Williamsburg, died Monday, February 4, 2002 at the Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City following a lengthy illness.

Memorial services will be held at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, February 9, 2002 at the Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City. Private family services will be held prior to these services with burial at Memory Gardens Cemetery. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service of Iowa City is caring for Dorothy’s services and her family. Memorial Donations can be made to the First Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg or Iowa County Historical Society.

Mrs. Ressler was born September 5, 1905 in rural Johnson County, Iowa the daughter of George W. and Stella (Kepler) Bell. She graduated from Wellman High School, Wellman, Iowa in 1923 and later received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Iowa in 1958. Dorothy married Theodore C. Ressler on June 3, 1928 in Keosauqua, Iowa. For over thirty-five years she taught elementary education, retiring in 1970 after teaching 17 years at Williamsburg Schools. From 1972 until 1980 she managed the Broom and Basket Shop in West Amana. She moved to Oaknoll Retirement Residence in February of 1987.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Williamsburg, a member of the Iowa State Teachers Association, sixty-five year member of the Wellman Rebekah Lodge, Former officer of the Williamsburg O.E.S. She had received Wallace Farmer’s Teacher of the Year award in 1962, Dorothy was the first female member of 4-H in Iowa County, where she was an adult leader, she was also an active member of the Iowa County Historical Society.

Her family includes a daughter and her husband, Carol and Raymond Crawford of Walnut Creek, CA, granddaughter and her husband, Kimberly and Alan Faddis of Plano, TX, two great-granddaughters, Ashley and Lauren Faddis.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Theodore on September 1, 1975, two brothers, Leslie and Marian Bell, and a sister, Eunice Sprague.