Dorothea Ruth Fournier

Dorothea Ruth (Desens) Fournier 04/04/1930 - 01/01/2025
Palm Springs, CA. Dorothea left this world to be with our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven on New Year's Day, Wednesday, January 1, 2025, just 3 months before her 95th birthday.
Dorothea was born during the Great Depression on April 4th, 1930 to parents Carolyn Isabelle (Alton) Desens and George Milton Desens. She grew up in Oswego, N.Y. on Lake Ontario with her three sisters and attended Oswego public schools.
In 1947, at the age seventeen, she was voted Oswego's "Miss Valentine" in a local theater contest. Dorothea excelled in her studies and graduated early from high school. As a teenager, she gave her heart to the Lord at the Ontario Bible Camp.
After high school, Dorothea received a full scholarship from Northeastern University and graduated with a Bachelor's degree. She even appeared on the local Boston news after being elected captain of the Northeastern Huskies cheerleading team. While attending Northeastern, Dorothea met her future husband, a handsome Merchant Marine from Wilder, VT, Gerald Franklin Fournier (known as Jerry), who was working as a soda jerk at a pharmacy directly across from the university while he put himself through hairdressing school. Dorothea and Jerry were married on April 30, 1949.
Dot & Jerry, as they were known to their close friends, first lived in an apartment in Mattapan, MA where they met their lifelong friend, Jane MacArthur who was the organist at the Park Street Church in Boston. Later they bought their first house and moved to Natick, MA. The couple were blessed with 4 children: Gerald Franklin, Jr., Jean Marie, Frank Joseph II, and Glen Andrew.
Dorothea was a very active mom while her children were growing up and volunteered as a Cub Scout and Girl Scout Den mother. Dorothea also volunteered with the Lilja Elementary School PTA, where she met her lifelong best friend Virginia "Gini" Lyster. Gini invited Dorothea to West Natick Evangelical Church, where she came back to her faith and became active holding positions of Church Secretary, Sunday School Superintendent and as a teacher of Vacation Bible School. Church missionaries returning home would often stay with Dorothea and Jerry, and she was well known for making them her famous rotisserie leg of lamb with mint jelly.
Dorothea also enjoyed making all of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter holiday meals for her family, as well as making all birthday celebrations very special and inviting everyone who could attend. Dorothea and Jerry also loved boating and water skiing with family and friends, having owned their own boat for many years, which they named "Momma's Mink."
Dorothea's husband Jerry became one of Boston's most well-known hairstylists while working at the Copley Plaza Hotel's prestigious hair salon. Dorothea and Jerry then decided to open up their own hair styling shop, "Jeri's Beauty Boutique" on Newbury Street in Boston. Later they also opened the "Mane Event" in Worcester, MA. A woman of many talents, Dorothea not only managed the finances at both shops, but also did the electrical wiring at both locations.
Dorothea also held several other interesting jobs during her life. She loved to tell stories of working on the "muck" as a teenager and driving a tractor for a strawberry farm, and later as an adult installing lighting and chandeliers for Sylvania. She also worked using binoculars as an official "airplane look-out monitor" while the extremely tall John Hancock Tower in Boston was initially under construction. In addition, she managed the opening of a family owned weight loss medical center franchise, commercial real estate broker, apartment leasing agent, worked full time reconciling ATM transactions for Shawmut Bank, drove a taxi in Metro West, MA, and lastly worked as a credit card application processor and customer service representative for Home Depot.
Dorothea was also a "sponsor," mentoring to many women through the Alcoholics Anonymous program and enjoyed helping out at the Serenity House in Natick.
Dorothea & Jerry were married for over 30 years, but then unfortunately divorced. Dorothea then moved to Framingham, MA and later to Ashland, MA with her very dear friend Dorothy Gorton. They were always known as "Dot N' Dot," and lived together for 17 years.
Dorothea loved to travel, whether it be by herself, or with friends and family, and she spent vacations in the Dominican Republic; Puerto Rico; Bermuda; Italy; Las Vegas, NV; Miami, FL; Ocean City, NJ; Lake Mascoma in NH; Thousand Islands in NY; Narragansett, RI; New York City; Eagle River, WI; Yosemite, CA; Lake Tahoe, CA; and Carmel, CA. She also visited Glacier National Park, MT, and even saw Mt. Saint Helens before it erupted while visiting Trout Lake, WA. However, her favorite place to vacation was always in Provincetown, MA.
Dorothea was also an avid reader, reading several books a week. She also knew her Bible from cover to cover and filled it with highlights, notes and underlines. She also love all music, especially Puccini operas and beautiful hymns.
Dorothea later bought a mobile home in Sanford, ME near Ogunquit, and lived there for approximately 13 years. She attended the Alfred Parish Church and made several wonderful friends there. In Maine, she was within driving distance to Dartmouth College in NH, where her sister Geraldine was living near with her son Tucker and his wife Linda. She used to drive there frequently to visit them.
In 2013, at the age 83, her son Frank and his spouse Stephen (Steve) invited Dorothea to move near them in Northern California to live with and help take care of Steve's aging mother, Jacqueline (Jackie) Elkins, since Jackie was no longer able to live alone at her home in Little Rock, AR. Frank and Steve found them a 2 bedroom apartment near their home in Pleasanton, CA and moved them both across country in 2013. Even though the two of them had never met before, Dorothea and Jackie instantly became roommates and eventually good friends, and found out that they actually had a lot in common. They both had 4 children (both with 3 boys and 1 girl) and discovered that Jackie had grown up for a time in Buffalo, NY along the east end of Lake Erie, while Dorothea grew up in Oswego, NY along the east end of Lake Ontario. They also both played bridge expertly as partners and were both staunch Democrats and loved watching CNN. Dorothea also became a member of the Lynnewood United Methodist Church in Pleasanton, CA.
In 2016 when it was necessary to move Jackie Elkins to a memory care facility, Dorothea was then moved to her own single apartment. Then later in 2021, when Dorothea needed additional care and could no longer live alone, she moved in with Frank and Steve at their home in Pleasanton, CA.
Later in 2021 when Steve was able to retire, Frank and Steve sold their Pleasanton home and the three of them moved to Frank and Steve's Southern California second home in Palm Springs. The three of them were very happy living together there until the end of May 2024, when at the age of 94, Dorothea suffered an unexpected but massive and paralyzing stroke. She unfortunately then needed to be moved to a full time skilled nursing facility in Palm Springs, where she received excellent care for 7 months until her death.
Dorothea was preceded in death by her parents, her 3 beautiful sisters, Carolyn Winifred Gray (96), Geraldine Bernadette Rossiter (84), Kathryn Eileen Ritzen (81), her former husband, Gerald Franklin Fournier, Sr. (90), her nephew Richard Tucker Rossiter (68), her daughter-in-law Peggy Kathleen Fournier (68), her loving friends Dorothy Gorton (81), Jackie Elkins (94), Elsie Rich (94), Roberta Humez (99), Nancy Vanaria (87), and Virginia Lyster (91).
Dorothea is survived by her children Gerald (Tammy McGlade) of Ocean View, NJ, Jean (Ernest) Fitzpatrick of Three Lakes, WI, Frank (Stephen Elkins) of Palm Springs, CA, Glen (Ana Cerqueira) of Milford, MA, grandchildren Chelsea (Ben) Atis of Platteville, WI, Tyson Fitzpatrick of Columbia Falls, MT, Jacki Fitzpatrick of Pittsburgh, PA, Jenny (Edward) Fischer of Egg Harbor Township, NJ, Justin (Nicole Werner) of Ocean View, NJ, great-grandchildren Isaac Atis and David Atis of Platteville, WI. She is also survived by an "other loving daughter" Debbie Hayes of Millis, MA, her son Frank's lifelong best friend.
A memorial filled with music in celebration of the life of Dorothea will be announced later and is expected to be held in the spring or summer of this year. In lieu of flowers, please give to a charity of your own choice.