Dora (Dalli) Hollis CAMPBELL

HOLLIS, DALLI, CAMPBELL, GUTH, MAYNARD, DADISMAN, GRAY, BECK, SANCHEZ, ELLINGSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:49

April 8, 1923 ---- May 30, 2019

Dora Dalli Campbell, 96, of Klemme, passed away Thursday, May 30, 2019 at Concord Care Center in Garner, IA. Funeral services will be held at 2PM Friday, June 7, 2019 at the United Methodist church in Britt with Pastor Bob Dodge officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the 2PM service at the church. Internment will be at the Ell Township Cemetery in Klemme, IA.

Dora Dalli Hollis was born to Manuel and Emilia Hollis Dalli on April 8, 1923 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. She graduated from Universidad La Autonoma in Guadalajara, Mexico with a degree in biology and an advance degree in pharmacy in which she worked for two years. During that same time period, she trained in classical voice performance. Throughout her life time she enjoyed singing many solos in numerous concerts, recitals, and chorales, and even in special events such as the Billy Graham Crusade in Puerto Rico. At this time she made a crucial decision to ask Jesus Christ to be her Lord and Savior, a decision that changed the course of her life.

One of Dora’s greatest joys was learning. She got a degree in Bible (Venard College), a Master of Divinity (Asbury Seminary) and a Master of Education (Universidad de Puerto Rico). With the latter degree she established and ran a Head Start program for many years in the Iglesia Metodista Obispo Corson, the church Don helped established in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In Iowa, she worked for several Head Start programs. The former degrees she used to become an ordained minister once she and Don completed their work in Puerto Rico. After she became a U.S. citizen, she received her pastor certificate and served several churches in Iowa including Goodell, St Paul’s Hispanic Church (which she started in Muscatine), Letts-High Prairie, Carlisle and Tingley-Wishard Chapel-Ellston. During their retirement, she and her husband, Don, helped establish Mission Nueva Vida (New Life Mission), a Hispanic church located in Corwith, IA.

It was during seminary studies that Dora met her husband, Don Campbell, who was studying for the pastorate. Don, who was musical, fell in love with her when he first heard her sing. The ratio in this seminary was 5 men to 1 woman during that time. So after a quiet and somewhat secretive courtship to avoid gossip, they married during their last year in seminary. Following their graduation, they served in Stanwood for 18 months while they waited to be assigned to a mission field. Two of their children were born in Iowa during this time. Once assigned to Puerto Rico, they started and served their church plant 12 wonderful and full years. There they raised their four children who grew up bilingual; three of those children went on to serve in church ministry.

Throughout their ministry, Dora and Don enjoyed traveling especially to visit their children and grandchildren. Dora wasn’t especially fond of camping but would go along. The family made many fond memories with their beloved fold down camper. She and Don took trips overseas to visit Israel, Germany, and Italy. One of Dora’s memorable times was flying around the U.S. when she was a part of the Methodist Jurisdictional Board of Pensions due to being a woman of Hispanic descent. She and Don were unique in that they were bilingual, cross cultural pastors. They were the first clergy couple in the Iowa Methodist conference.

The beach was a favorite part of Dora’s life, a love she passed on to all her children. She and Don made monthly trips to the beach with the family during their 12 years in Puerto Rico. They made many trips to Mexico to visit her relatives and, of course, to spend time at the beach. She loved visiting their son, Dan, while he was a missionary in Bolivia where the climate was similar to her childhood home in Mexico. Having grown up in pleasant weather, Dora could never accustom herself to Iowa weather; one could count on her frequent protests concerning winter weather. Nevertheless, she was a trooper and would bundle up to watch the grandchildren play in the snow.

One usually knew how Dora felt about things and she would do so by using colorful Spanish idioms. Sometimes, they could be rather piercing and to the point. Dora was not one to be joked with and would give you a look that shot daggers. However, her dry humor entertained family and friends. Even in her later years with dementia, her sense of humor entertained the nursing home staff. And as her dementia progressed, the staff grew used to being told off soundly in Spanish.

Dora is survived by her children: Margaret (Dennis) Guth, son-in-law, Byron Maynard, Susan (Jeff) Dadisman, Dan (Regina) Campbell, Grandchildren: Eric (Ashley) Guth, Natalie (Jeremy) Gray, Peter Guth, Lilly Guth, Anna (Andy) Maygaard, Brett Maynard, Ryan Maynard, Becca Maynard, Christopher (Adrienne) Dadisman, Andrew (Theresa) Dadisman, Karissa (Bryan) Beck, Danielle Dadisman, Stephen Campbell, Davey Campbell, 12 Great Grandchildren: Mikayla, Melody, Nathan, Elizabeth, Emily, Isabelle, Issac, Gideon, Avery, Addy, Eliza, Nyah; sister-in-law, Amy Campbell, and numerous nieces and nephews both in Mexico and in Iowa. She was preceded in death by her husband, Don, her parents, Manuel and Emilia, sisters, Lydia Dalli and Ruth Dalli Sanchez, brother, Roberto Dalli, brother-in-law, Marvin Campbell, niece, Connie Ellingson, daughter, Cindy Maynard, grandson, Joshua Dadisman, and many extended family both in Mexico and Iowa.

https://www.andrewsfuneralhomeandfloral.com/obituary/dora-campbell