Dorothy "Dottie" Wanke

Dorothy "Dottie" Wanke, 103, of Newport News, Virginia, passed away on September 30, 2025, at Warwick Forest Retirement Community.

At the time of Dorothy's birth in Calcutta in 1922, King & Emperor George V ruled the sprawling British Empire. India, known as the British Raj, was at its core. She was the 5th generation of British in India, beginning when General William L'Estrange, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, married the Princess of Hathras in 1815.

Her family moved from Calcutta to New Delhi in 1934 when her father assumed responsibility for all operations for The Statesman, the largest English language newspaper in India. For ten months of the year, Dorothy attended Woodstock, a boarding school in the Himalayan hill town of Mussoorie. She had her first music lesson at the age of seven, and by the time she graduated from Woodstock she had been accepted by the London School of Music to earn her advanced degree. She was that good. A professional music career beckoned.

World War II put an end to those dreams.

But the War brought another twist of fate for Dorothy. For a St. Valentine's Day dance, her sister Cynthia had arranged a blind date. It turned out to be Captain Irvin Wanke, a dashing young officer in the US Army's Corps of Engineers. He was stationed in India to assist in planning and building the Burma Road in anticipation of Japan's invasion of India.

In 1945, shortly after Victory in the Pacific, Dorothy and Irvin married, boarded a war-battered troop carrier, and sailed across the Pacific to the United States. As the USS Morton slid under the Golden Gate Bridge, Irvin promised to show her America. Over the years, they visited every state in the Union save Alaska as well as many European countries.

Dorothy had arrived at her new home. She changed her British nickname Doro to the American Dottie and got on with Americanization. Gone were the privileges of a British woman in colonial India. Gone were the cook, the housekeeper, the nanny, the gardener and the driver. She knew not a single person in the entire country. But Dottie prevailed, raising two children and even managing the household on her own for two years while Irvin was stationed in Korea in the early Fifties.

In 1959, Irvin retired from the Army as Lt Colonel and took a job as a civil engineer with Continental Army Command at Fort Monroe. The family moved to Newport News. Encouraged by her husband to pursue her talents, Dottie honed her piano skills with three summer sessions at William & Mary and advanced instruction from Cary McMurran. She gave piano lessons in her home, introducing many young people in Newport News to the joys of music.

Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church was a focal point in Dottie's life. For 14 years, she was choir director and organist, and continued as substitute organist until she was 90. After a semester at the School of Theology at the University of the South, she became a Eucharist lay minister bringing communion to shut-ins. She was a driving force in the church. Dottie enjoyed golf, but after surviving breast cancer and major surgery, she decided to commit herself to excel as part of her recovery therapy. Her perseverance paid off. She was Senior Women's champion and shot her age not once but three times.

In 2009, she and Irvin moved into Warwick Forest Retirement Community. He died shortly thereafter, and she continued on her own for 16 years. She was a storyteller, and self-published her 638-page autobiography Doro, Daughter of the Raj, which sold well on Amazon. Her cheerful personality, genuine concern for others, and infectious laughter endeared her to residents and staff alike.

Known as Dede to her family, she spoke lovingly of her great granddaughter "beautiful" Ryleigh Reed, and her great grandsons, " my six little boys" . . . Brady Price and Jarett Price, Will Reed, Mike Weber, Jack Weber, and Charlie Weber.

Dottie is survived by her son, Bob Wanke (Janice) and their daughter, Karin Wanke Weber (Matt); her daughter, Laverne Mitchell (Rob); her daughters, Kimberly Reed (John) and Trisha Price (Scott); her step-grandsons, Brandon Mitchell and Robbie Mitchell and his daughter, Aerial and her sister, Cynthia Boxall in California.

Looking back on her life, she was especially thankful for her husband Irvin, her steadfast belief in God and her incredibly good fortune living in America and enjoying its many freedoms.

We will miss her. She was a remarkable woman.