Dorothy Elizabeth (Michael) Thomas died on August 8, 2024, at the Leisure Club in Bend, OR. The former

           Madras resident was 98 years old.

              Dorothy was born on April 11, 1926, in Trinidad, Colorado, to parents Harry S. and Myrtle (Cooper)

           Michael. She joined older siblings Darrell, Geraldine (“Geri”), and Bill.

              She always said she had a happy childhood, even though her family faced financial hardship in her early

           years. The family of six lived in a converted school bus for a time after her father’s hands were severely

           burned in a house fire when Dorothy was just 11 months old. Then, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl

           hit.

               Eventually, the family settled in Provo, Utah, where Dorothy’s father worked for Standard Oil and her

           mother drove school buses. Immediately after graduating from Provo High School in 1944, Dorothy

           moved to California to attend Pomona Junior College to become a home economics teacher. During her

           breaks, she worked as a “Rosie the Riveter” at the Northrop factory, building aircraft for World War II

           with her sister and brother-in-law.

               After graduating from Pomona’s two-year program, Dorothy moved to Corvallis to finish her bachelor’s

            at Oregon State University. Everything was going according to plan until she contracted strep throat and

            had to recuperate at her parents' new home in Madras. There, she met the new doctor in town, Dr.

            Evan Thomas. The two married at her parents’ house on January 18, 1948, and honeymooned in San

            Francisco.

                Evan and Dorothy raised six children together. Evan worked long hours, leaving Dorothy to manage the

            home front. She put her home economics training to good use.

                Dorothy baked bread and pies weekly, canned fruits and vegetables, and made her own granola and hot

            chocolate mixes. She sewed clothes for herself and her children, even making down sleeping bags,

            snowsuits, and bean bags. Her idea of relaxing was needle crafts like tatting, crewel, candle wicking,

            needlepoint, and Hardanger embroidery. She also enjoyed weaving and knitting Afghan blankets.           

                 Whenever Evan had time off, they would head out for a hike or a day of downhill skiing with the kids at

            Mt Bachelor. They hitched up their Kenskill travel trailer to their Jeep Waggoneer for camping

            excursions throughout the western United States. In the 1970s, they rented a motorhome for a 

            cross-country trip to visit Evan’s sister in Maine.

                 Dorothy was able to travel abroad as she’d always hoped later in life. She visited England, Wales,

            Ireland, Mexico, and many countries along the Mediterranean.            

                 Dorothy also knew great sorrow in her life. The murder of her daughter Mary while jogging in Bend in

            1982 affected her deeply. She also survived breast cancer in 1989/90, taking part in high dose

            chemotherapy and tamoxifen trials.

                   Evan and Dorothy worked hard to save enough to build their dream house off Ashwood Road. They

             moved in on January 1, 1957, and it broke Dorothy’s heart to leave her home and church in 2015 after

             the house and yard became too much.

                   Being Dorothy, she made new friends at Whispering Winds Retirement Community in Bend and had five

             good years before she needed to move to the Leisure Club assisted living, where she was cared for with

             love and respect until her last breaths.

                    Dorothy was a member of the Madras United Methodist Church and Eastern Star for most of her life.

             She had many interests and was involved in 4-H, the garden club, the weaving guild, quilting bees, and

             the Family Finders genealogy society, to name a few. Dorothy was also lucky enough to be a member of

             the Sahalee Club, a group of local ladies who, among other things, funded and built Madras’s first park.

                   Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, husband Evan W. in 2011, daughter Mary in 1982, sister

             Geri Broadbent, and brothers Darrell and Bill Michael.

                     Five of her children survive her: Evan S. (and Linda) Thomas of Bend, Laura (and Bob) Goold of Bend,

             David (and Clarissa) Thomas of Corvallis, John Thomas of Madras, and Catherine (and Troy) Towers of

             Madras. Dorothy had three grandchildren: Kelli (and James) Hall of Bend, Evan M. (and Shontae)

             Thomas of Culver, and Merrick Towers of Madras. Her great-grandchildren include Shaelyn (and Riley)

             Gibson of Culver, Noah Hall of Bend, Evan J. Thomas of Culver, Jordan Hall of Bend, and Dylan Thomas of

             Culver. Her great-great-grandsons are Aiden, Amias, and Milo Gibson of Culver.

                      Dorothy is also survived by numerous cherished nieces and nephews, including Ann (and Dave) Duling of

              Maupin, Pat Hinckley of Arlington, WA, Michael (and Lavonne) Broadbent of Sisters, Sandi (and Bruce)

              Landolt of Yuma, Tom Michael of Portland, Tom Thomas of Reno, Dud (and Barbara Thomas) of

              Portland, Evan Mitchell of Portland, ME, Brynn (and Cindy) Thomas of Portland, and Marc Thomas of

              Portland.

                       If you want to make a memorial contribution in Dorothy’s name, please consider the Madras United

              Methodist Church (https://madrasumc.org/donations/) or Partners in Care Hospice of Bend

             (https://www.partnersbend.org/donate/).

                      Please join the family in celebrating Dorothy’s life on September 21 at 11 a.m. at the Madras United

              Methodist Church. We know that we shared our mom with many others, so we’d like to extend a special

              invite to all those whom mom also considered “one of mine.