Dorothy Jean Gilroy (1921-2022

GILROY, CLARK, FARMER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 5/9/2022 at 20:45:09

Dorothy Jean Gilroy (nee Jordan) of Bettendorf, Iowa, passed away on Sunday, the 1st of May, from natural causes. She was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, John Gilroy, son James (‘Jim’) Gilroy, daughter Marjorie (‘Maggie’) Gilroy Farmer Jordan, brothers Clair, Kenneth, and James Jordan, and sister Cathleen (Sister Mary Esther) Jordan. She is survived by her sister Lenore Clark, son John (‘Jack’) Gilroy, Jr., daughter Mary Gilroy, grandson Brian Farmer, great-grandchildren Kaidence, Bennett and Easton Farmer, daughter-in-law Debra Mattson Gilroy, and granddaughter-in-law Angela Kealey Farmer.

Dorothy was born on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1921, to Floyd Jordan and Ellen Hogan in a farm house near North English, Iowa. Her basic education began in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Iowa. After the departure of her father, her mother moved her and her siblings to Davenport, Iowa, where they were raised by the religious sisters of the Congregation of the Humility of Mary at St. Vincent’s Orphanage. In 1938, she graduated at the head of her class at the Villa de Chantal High School in Rock Island, Illinois. After high school, she became a clerical worker for several years at Nichols Wire and other firms in Davenport. Dorothy met her husband, a returning World War II Army Air Force combat veteran, at a Catholic Youth Dance at the Col Ballroom in Davenport. She and John were married by Monsignor Martin Cone at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport in September, 1947.