Dorothea Louise Rosenboom

Dorothea Louise Rosenboom, age 100, of Quincy, died Monday, May 12, 2025, at 2:53 am in Good Samaritan Home.

Born to Emelia Sarah Schroeder and George Turton Sudermann in 1924, Dorothea Louise Sudermann emerged from a community of Mennonites who had immigrated around 1914 from what was then Southern Russia to the central Kansas prairie. During her youth she followed her family around as her father pursued college teaching positions in Emporia (KS), Philadelphia (PA), Schenectady and Albany (NY), and finally Fairfield (IA). In Fairfield, her son, David Charles Rosenboom, was born in 1947, and in 1950, she married Arnold Rosenboom, originally from Golden (IL). Arnold adopted David as his stepson, and the three of them moved to a small, very modest farm not far from Fowler (IL). When the three set out from Fairfield, and arrived at the farm, they found a wood burning stove in the kitchen though no running water in the house; but Arnold (known as "Boom") had arranged a surprise: a vintage upright piano stood tall in the living room. He knew that "Dorothy" (as she was known to her family) harbored an unfulfilled dream to learn music. That surprise fortuitously cemented the family's priority for the enrichments of culture.

Young David took to the piano immediately, and soon lessons were arranged with three Sisters who had established an extraordinary music conservatory in Quincy's Notre Dame High School, from which, over time, many finely trained musicians emerged. Determined to develop her own musical skills, Dorothy also took some lessons right alongside David.

Having lived through the Great Depression, Dorothy had developed great skills at doing creative things with minimal materials, like making beautiful Christmas tree ornaments with a kind of wonderfully sculpted aluminum foil origami.

To manage the farm, which wasn't productive enough to sustain the family, Boom arranged for some share cropping with neighbors, while he maintained a job as a linotype machinist at Quincy Herald Whig. Dorothy also helped out from time to time by taking secretarial jobs, all the while supporting the value of learning and cultural growth as vigorously as she could. She also made sure to take David to the Quincy Public Library every Saturday.

Dorothy always continued her remarkable devotion to helping others, including neighboring children. Eventually, by the time David was ready for eighth grade, she and Boom spearheaded an effort to get the Quincy school district boundary lines adjusted so that David and others could transfer from Fowler Elementary School to Quincy Junior High and then Senior High Schools. When it was time for David to start ninth grade, and it was becoming too hard for Boom to manage both the farm and other jobs, he and Dorothy traded the farm for a house on North 24th Street in Quincy. It was sad to have to sell several horses that had provided so much enjoyment on the farm, but it was time for a change.

Throughout the following years, Dorothy nurtured young people in the Quincy house with piano lessons, art lessons, and other projects. Her generosity and uplifting spirit enriched many. Eventually, Boom arranged for a new baby grand piano to replace the old upright, so that Dorothy could upgrade her playing and teaching. She absorbed and listened deeply to music of all kinds.

Additionally, during this time, Dorothy became a prolific artist, producing many paintings, drawings, and other works. In the mid-1970s she started taking some classes in art and art history at what was then Quincy College. She listened to lectures on Freud and surrealistic painting, and in 1975, she authored a paper titled "A Study of Picasso, His Use of Themes of Earlier Masters as Stepping Stones Into His and Our Time and Space."

The last big party in the Quincy house was held on Dorothy's ninetieth birthday, August 9th, 2014. Not long after that, she experienced a serious fall, and eventually it became necessary for her to move into Good Samaritan Home of Quincy, where she lived until her passing.

Her indomitable positivity and unshakable optimism marked a personality replete with boundless empathy, understanding, and caring. She will be missed and always remembered by all who came to know and love her.

Survivors include: a son, David Charles (Nicola Voss) Rosenboom of Valencia, CA; a granddaughter, Lindsay Claire Rosenboom of Portland, OR; a grandson, Daniel Aaron (Aubre Hill) Rosenboom of Long Beach, CA; a half-brother, James (Beverly) Suderman of Cocoa, FL; a cousin, David (Mary) Sudermann of Northfield, MN; and nieces and nephews, Deborah (Ed) Brinson, Mike (Emily) Sudermann, Mark (Jean Anne) Sudermann, Bob (Angela) Sudermann, Bill Sudermann, and Kathryn Myers.

In addition to her husband, Arnold, Dorothea was preceded in death by: her parents; two sisters, Emily Maffucio and Margaret Myers; three brothers, Frederick, Richard, and George Sudermann; a nephew, Thomas Maffucio; and a niece Karin Myers.

Visitation: 10:00 am - 11:00 am, Thursday May 22, 2025, at Hansen-Spear Funeral Home.

Services: 11:00 am Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Hansen-Spear Funeral Home, with Chaplain Josh Vahle officiating. There will be no burial.

Memorial donations may be made to Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association. Memorial Donations may be made online at https://memorials.hansenspear.com

Hansen-Spear Funeral Directors are in charge of the arrangements.