Dorthea McGonigal, 63

Dorthea Yuvonne McGonigal died Monday, April 14, 2003, at Elmore Medical Center.

Dorthea was born Dec. 14, 1939, in Oklahoma, to John and Goldie Baggs.

She is survived by: her husband, Robert H. McGonigal, 9 children, 23 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and 4 brothers.

Dotty was a simple person, her family said, an "Okie" farm girl who was sometimes more like a mother to her four little brothers.

She developed a strong work ethic, which served her well while having five children and going to school to work as a nurse, all while married to a military man that was serving his country overseas much of the time.

She then moved to Wyoming and fell in love with the mountains, enjoying hunting and fishing, and just getting out in the clean, free air of the Rockies. She also met Bob there, the man with whom she shared the rest of her life.

She continued to work hard for many years at Crown Cork and Seal, and while she worked hard, she played hard, her family noted.

"Perhaps her most endearing trait was her deep love of family and friends. Her children were too scattered to be with them all, so she chose to come to Mountain Home to be near her daughters," her family said.

"While struggling with increasingly poor health, to the very end she loved nothing more than a house full of family and friends, frying up a couple of chickens and sharing her love."

She donated her body to medical science, "so perhaps a blind person may see, a lame person may walk, and a medical student may learn to improve the lives of others," her family said. "When her ashes are returned, she wants them to be scattered in the mountains, so the loved ones she's leaving may think of her when they're enjoying their scenic beauty."