Dorothy (Wilkinson) Hawk
Dorothy Irene Wilkinson Hawk, age 93, of 93 East Main Street, Shelby, died Saturday, March 10, 2007 at Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky after a two month battle with the after effects of a stroke.
She was born August 12, 1913, on a farm in Jackson Township, Richland County, Ohio, the only child of Chester O. and Ruth Amy (Gilchrist) Wilkinson. Her mother died in childbirth and she was raised by her father and grandmother. Dorothy was a 1931 graduate of Shelby High School and attended Bliss Business College and The Ohio State University. Over the years, she was employed by various businesses in Shelby including, The Ohio Seamless Tube Co., Wilkins Air Force Depot, Laughbaum’s Market, Bing’s Furniture Store, The Hancock Insurance Agency and The Shelby Daily Globe. Dorothy spent 22 years working at the Daily Globe where she served as news editor and wrote a weekly column which made her well known to a large part of the Shelby community. Someone once remarked that her column was like a letter from home. She was also a freelance writer for the Firelands Farmer and various religious publications. Because of Dorothy’s persistence and good natured journalism she was very pleased to have been granted one of the very few interviews with Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Restaurants. She was also very proud of the interviews she had with Dorothy Fuldheim and Sherrod Brown.
She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 44 years. She was a long time Sunday school teacher, President of the Women’s Relief Society and active in other church organizations at the church on Middle Bellville Road in Mansfield. She and her late husband Stewart, worked at the Washington, DC Mormon Temple for two and one half years as missionaries following their retirement. While there, she was choir director at the church in Kensington, Maryland. Before joining the Mormon Church, Dorothy was an active member of the First Christian Church in Shelby and was a member of Daughters of Union Veterans. She enjoyed traveling with her husband. She took great pleasure in the trip they took together to the Holy Land. Dorothy’s passions included writing, quilting and genealogy.
Dorothy is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Stewart Parker and Nancy Hawk of Huron, Ohio; a daughter, Mary Jo Hawk Huffman of Dallas, Texas; 10 grandchildren and their spouses, Cathy Piha Huffman, Michael and Frances Huffman, Kathy Jo and Kenneth Williams, Susan and Steve Bygren, Amy and Joe Wyatt, Timothy Huffman, Steven and Martha Huffman, Richard Huffman, Stewart P. Hawk II and Cheryl Lynn Hawk;
2 sisters-in-law and spouse, Evelyn and Don Yarman of Florida and Edith Hawk of Marion. Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Henry Stewart Hawk on March 4, 1999, a son-in-law, Victor Huffman, a grandson, David Huffman, 2 nephews, Gary Yarman and Gregory Hamilton, 3 sisters-in-law, Eunice Hawk Davis, Irene Davis Danine, and Nellie Hawk, 4 brothers-in-law, Donald Hawk, Robert Hawk, Paul Davis, and James Floyd Davis.
Friends may call on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 from 2-4 and 6-8 PM at the Turner Funeral Home, 168 West Main Street, Shelby. Funeral services will be conducted on Thursday at 11:00 AM at the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Later Day Saints on Middle Bellville Road in Mansfield with Bishop Robert L. Rivers officiating. Burial will be in Little London Cemetery on Plymouth-Springmill Road in Shelby. Memorial expressions may be made to the church or to Meals on Wheels.