Dorothy Wingerter

WINGERTER

Dorothy Elizabeth (Dipman)



Dorothy, age 96, passed peacefully on November 24, 2014, with the assistance of Hospice of Northwest Ohio and nurses at Kingston of Perrysburg where she has resided for the last 4 years.

Dorothy was born July 30, 1918, in Detroit, the fourth child in a family of five to Henry Dipman and Emma Schoen Dipman. The oldest child, Harold, died of diphtheria at the age of 8.

Dorothy graduated from Edwin Denby High School, located in Detroit, in 1934. It was at Denby that romance started in a Latin class where Dorothy excelled and impressed Bob Wingerter. She married Robert George Wingerter August 5, 1939, at Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Detroit where they had met early in their lives. Dorothy had just graduated from Wayne State University in June of that same year with a degree in education.

She and Bob moved frequently in response to Bob's career. They first lived in Canton, OH for 5 years, then Detroit and Grosse Pointe, MI for 15 years, back to Canton for another 5 years, Bloomfield Hills, MI for 3 years and then finally moved to Perrysburg in 1967.

Dorothy and Bob attended Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg and she was a member of the founding board of Abundant Life of Perrysburg, a Zoar sponsored senior housing project. She was very active in various Lutheran churches during her lifetime, as Sunday School Teacher and Superintendent, a director of Christmas Pageants, and Vacation Bible School.

Dorothy was involved in mental health in the Toledo area. She was on the Toledo Mental Health Board for two terms and volunteered in the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation at the Toledo Mental Health Center. She served on the Wood County Board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, known as the 648 Board.

Dorothy learned to play golf in self-defense, as Bob loved the game. She soon learned to love the game as well and played well enough to win a number of woman's club championships at Brookside Country Club in Canton, OH, Bloomfield Hills Country Club near Detroit, and Belmont Country Club in Perrysburg.

Along with golf, Dorothy loved to garden, and watch and identify the birds in her yard. She enjoyed many years of skiing during winter, and fishing and boating in Florida. She liked to play bridge with friends as well.

As a mother, Dorothy was the glue that always held the family together with many fun holiday gatherings and vacations. She and Bob had three children, Gail E. Sponseller, Janice R. Dixon, and Robert H. Wingerter; five grandchildren, Leslie (Sponseller) Patron, and Stephen Sponseller, Sarah (Dixon) Magoun, and Ericka and Bo Wingerter. To Dorothy's delight she was blessed with five great-grandchildren, Henry, Jake and Katherine Magoun, Ned Patron, and Logan Wingerter and sister, Ruth Schultz.

Dorothy was sadly preceded in death by her son, Robert H. Wingerter and her husband, Bob, who died on January 3, 2011. She will be missed greatly by her family who enjoyed her humor and spirit for life.

Friends will be received on Thursday, December 4, 2014, from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. in the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, 222 East South Boundary St., Perrysburg, Ohio 43551 (419-874-3133). Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 5, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. at Zoar Lutheran Church, 314 east Indiana Ave, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551. Burial will follow at Fort Meigs Union Cemetery. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider Hospice of Northwest Ohio and Cherry Street Missions.