Dorothy J. Magill

Dorothy June (Crom) Magill was born October 31, 1928 on a farm southwest of Tekamah, Nebraska. She was the eleventh of twelve children born to Elmer and Cordie (Gray) Crom. She passed away May 23, 2017 at Tekamah Care and Rehabilitation Center, after a short illness, at the age of 88 years. Dorothy graduated from Tekamah High School in 1944, at the age of 15; the youngest Tekamah graduate to date. Since she could not find a job elsewhere at that young age, she was hired to work in the school superintendent’s office. Dorothy and Merlin Magill were married on April 2, 1945. To this union six children were born; Duane, Diane, Keith, Gary, Terry and Mark. Dorothy kept busy raising her family, managing her husband's business office and was very active in promoting Tekamah activities. Dorothy and Merlin became active followers of the Tekamah wrestling program during their children's school years and followed the program beyond the years of their grandchildren. She was baptized in the First Baptist Church of Tekamah on September 27, 1959 and was also very active in her Church. Dorothy and Merlin were members of the Chamber of Commerce and Saddle Club for many years. During that time the Hoot Gibson Rodeo was started and they were active workers at the Rodeo year after year. Dorothy was the rodeo treasurer until she retired a few years ago. Dorothy was a member of the American Legion and VFW Auxiliaries. She became a charter member of the VFW Aux. in 1948. She was a past-president of the Dept. of Nebraska VFW Auxiliary (1971-72), District 7 president (1961-62) and was president of the local VFW Aux. for many years; she held many other offices in the auxiliary as well. Dorothy prepared the Annual Firemen's banquet for 33 years. She was Bloodmobile chairman for 15 years. She was also chairman of the annual Veteran's Day Dinner tribute to our county veterans through 2016. Dorothy has been a devoted member of the Chatt Community Center for many years, working tirelessly on many projects, and was selected the Volunteer of the Year for 2016. Only illness or vacations kept her from enjoying her regular Euchre and Pitch card games at the Center. Her main interests through the years were attending Blue Grass festivals, cards and visiting the area casinos. In recent years, she spent her winters in Lake Havasu City, Arizona with her daughter and son-in-law. She really enjoyed her phone conversations with friends and relatives here in the cold Nebraska winters, telling them how she sat on the deck in the sunshine reading and thinking about them. She was preceded in death by her parents; all of her brothers and sisters; husband, Merlin in 1997; son, Terry; infant son, Mark; infant grandchildren, Jennifer and Matthew; great granddaughter, Sierra. She is survived by her children; Duane, Gary and Keith ( Janice) Magill, all of Tekamah; Diane (Dick) Gear of Lake Havasu City, daughter-in-law, Monica Magill of FL; 9 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren; 1 great great grandchild.