Dorothy Mae Riehle Call

1923 - 2021

Dorothy Mae (Riehle) Call

April 29, 1923 – June 1, 2021

Dorothy Mae (Riehle) Call passed from this life on June 1, 2021, at the Northern Nevada State Veteran's Home in Sparks, Washoe County, Nevada. She was born to Frederick Henry Riehle and Gertrude (Steinmetz) Riehle on April 29, 1923, in Cresco, Howard Co., Iowa. She was 98 years old.

Dorothy grew up in Cresco, Iowa attending Catholic grade school and public high school. She graduated in 1941, and worked in Cresco at a diner, and later as a lawyer's secretary. She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1942 and worked at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. In July of 1943, she enlisted in the Navy, USNR (WAVES). She was sent to Hunter College in Bronx, New York and later to The Naval Training Station in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Her Duty Station from October 1943 to August 18, 1945, was at the U. S. Navy Department Bureau of Aeronautics, Engineering Division, Experiments and Developments Section in Washington DC. She met a young Marine, who was wounded in the Pacific Theater. 3 months later, Yeoman 2c Dorothy Mae Riehle and Sergeant Robert Louis Call were married on July 25, 1945, at St. Stevens Catholic Church in Washington D.C. She was Honorably Discharged on August 18, 1945.

The couple moved to Terre Haute, Indiana and used GI Bill and got their bachelor's degrees in Teaching from Indiana State University in 1949. After reading an article in Life Magazine about Elko County, Nevada, and knowing they needed teachers, Dorothy and Robert moved to Oywhee, Elko County, Nevada. In 1955 they moved to Elko, Elko County, Nevada. She taught in the Elko County School District until they adopted their first child, Frederick Charles in 1960. Soon after, my mother found out she was pregnant and they had 2 more children, Roberta Louise in 1961 and James Alfred in 1964. In 1967, Dorothy went back to work, this time as a founding member of the Elko Community College, later to be known as Northern Nevada Community College and Great Basin Community College. Dorothy instructed many of the Business Classes, then retired as a professor emeritus in 1983.

Dorothy enjoyed hunting, fishing, knitting and genealogy research. She was an extraordinary woman whose life touched many people. She was loved and respected by everyone who met her. The family would like to thank the Northern Nevada State Veterans Home who cared for Dorothy for during the last 9 months of her life. We would also like to thank her neighbors in Elko who helped both of our parents as their health declined.

Dorothy is predeceased by her parents, her husband Robert who passed in 2019 in Elko, brothers Fred W. Riehle and Robert C. Riehle, sister El-Marie Hamilton, and granddaughter Jennifer Marie Bronder. She is survived by son Fred (Amy) Call, daughter Roberta (John) Bronder, and son James Alfred Call. She is also survived by four grandchildren, one great granddaughter, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A rosary and visitation for Dorothy will be held a Burns Funeral Home at 4:30pm on June 10, 2021. A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, June 11, at St. Josephs Catholic Church at 1:30 pm. A procession to the Elko City Cemetery will then take place, a burial with Military Honors will follow.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity of your choice in Dorothy Call's name.