Dottie Drescher

DOTTIE (GOULD) DRESCHER passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 23, in Newville, Pennsylvania, after living 98 remarkable years.
She was born Dorothy Jean Gould on March 12, 1927, in Ohio. According to family lore, her birth took place at a country club managed by her father, Percival, who emigrated from England and became better known as Bill. Her mother, Isabella Coutts, was in service as a lady's maid in Scotland before she also came to America, arriving at Ellis Island in April 1912 and marrying Bill the next day. Dottie was the sixth of their seven children. She attended a two-room grade school near Cincinnati and graduated from Fairmont High School in Dayton, Ohio, in 1944.
After high school, Dottie worked as a secretary until she met Otto Drescher on a blind date at a Christmas party. They married on November 20, 1951, and remained married for 70 years, until Otto's death in 2022. In the years in between, they moved around the country a few times before settling in St. Albans, West Virginia, where they raised three children: Bill, Alan, and Carol. Dottie encouraged her children to get involved in activities like Boy Scouts, baseball, and dance lessons. She enjoyed music and wanted them all to learn to play an instrument - including, for some reason, the accordion.
Dottie and Otto loved to travel, and they were fortunate to be able to do so extensively both within the United States and internationally with Friendship Force and Road Scholars. They served as hosts for Friendship Force travelers from Brazil, Germany, and Japan, in addition to hosting an exchange student from Brazil for the 1975-76 school year. Some of their most treasured trips were with family, as when they brought the entire extended family along on a cruise to celebrate their 50th anniversary, or when they took their youngest grandsons on a baseball-themed trip, visiting Cooperstown, catching a Mets game in NYC, and touring Yankee Stadium.
Dottie loved to read, and she loved puzzles, crosswords, and Scrabble. Holidays were special to her, with candles and color-coordinated tablecloths, and it seemed she had a set of clip-on earrings, often with a matching brooch, thematically appropriate for every occasion. She sent her children and grandchildren (and eventually, great-grandchildren) cards for every holiday, always including a handwritten note letting them know how she'd been keeping herself busy. Usually it involved one of her many bridge groups, but sometimes it was her tomato garden, volunteering at church, or reading aloud to students at the nearby elementary school.
In recent years, Dottie delighted in welcoming her family for visits at her home in Green Ridge Village. Her great grandchildren decorated her room with drawings and brought joy to the residents by building a snowman in the courtyard. She enjoyed eating ice cream and cheesecake and always had a smile to share. She was honest and kind, making friends and being a good neighbor wherever she went. Her presence was a comfort, and she will be dearly missed. Her legacy lives on in the loving family she helped raise.
Dottie is survived by her three children: Bill (Beth), Alan (Lucretia), and Carol (Steve); six grandchildren: Wendy (Randy), Abby (Matt), Chris (Abigail), Molly (Evan), Andrew (Maggie), and Matt (Anna); and six great grandchildren: Max, Paige, Fox, Annie, Rowan, and Cooper. She was preceded in death by her husband (Otto), a daughter-in-law (Nancy), her parents, and her siblings.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on November 22 at First United Presbyterian Church of Newville, 111 W. Big Spring Ave, Newville, PA.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Read Aloud WV, 1700 MacCorkle Ave SE, Charleston, WV 25314, or to Highlawn Presbyterian Church, 2501 Washington Ave, St. Albans, WV 25177.