Dorothy Lucille Cramer

I was born on October 24, 1934 in Bellwood, Pennsylvania (named after my mother and my Aunt Lucille, I think). I was the 3rd child of Carl and Dorothy – the first girl, after my 2 brother’s, Bud (Marshall) and Bob (Robert). We lived in PA at a place called Roots Crossing, in a house my dad built, until I was partway through first grade and then we moved to Niagara Falls, where we lived for a year or two. (Check with my brother, Bob’s account – he recalls dates and times better than I do.) After living at the Falls, when we moved here to this present location, where I have lived most of my adult life at 4680 Chestnut Road, South Wilson. I lived here through graduation from High School in 1952 (where all my brothers and sisters graduated and also where all my five kids graduated). The year I graduated I went to Takoma Park, Maryland and lived with my cousin, Ann and her parents, Uncle Charles and Aunt Thora for one year. Cousin Ann and I both worked at the Treasury Department.

The following year I went to Philadelphia Bible College, where Howard Parker was a senior and I attended for year. In August of that year, (August 21, 1954) Howard and I were married at Grace Baptist Church in Newfane, New York, by the Re. Floyd Barackman.

We started a family one year and one month later. The first was Dana, then Dan, Doug, Shari and Julie. We lived in two different apartments in Newfane, and then built a house on Beebe Road beside Barb and Bud (brother).

When my parents moved to Connecticut, we decided to rent the homestead at 4680 Chestnut Road, and eventually bought it from my Dad (Carl and Helen) where we have lived ever since.

Over the years we have had many visitors, friends, family and foreign students stay with us – many parties – picnics – get togethers – probably more than all of you put together (with the exception of my parents) if you would ever be able to figure it out! And, we’ll probably continue to have them as long as we are able!

A husband’s perspective:
Dorothy is truly “God’s Gift” to a guy who goes along in life “happy as can be” most of the time. She is the detail one while I like to get to the bottom line. She sees the “bugs” on the leaves of the trees, while I see only the forest. She is a great help even though it sometimes gets my “dander up”. She is the worries and I am more pragmatic. “Dorothy” is taken from the Greek and means “gift of God” – Amen. There is a song that pretty well captures what Dorothy is to me:
“It had to be you, It had to be you, I finally found somebody who, could make me be blue…….with all of your faults, I love you still, It had to be you!”

Dorothy is a domestic engineer, past wedding cake maker, caterer, South Wilson auxiliary member. She played the church organ for years along with Floy Polasky and Marilyn Flint. She writes poems and music and plays flute. She taught a women’s Bible study at Ruth Bowen’s house.

Dorothy has a gift of discernment. She can spot a “phony” long before I realize it.

She is quite perceptive. One day she said to me, “I think the universal joint in the car is wearing out”. I thought to myself – “You don’t even know what a universal joint is” – But the very next day as I was backing out of our driveway, I heard this “clunk”. Sure enough, the universal joint needed to be replaced. Oh well, so much for male chauvinism.

We’ve had our arguments to be sure, but all in all we are thankful to God to be here at 4680 Chestnut Road – the seat of stability, when there are so many changes in the world – and many of them not for good.