Dorothy Jane Wecker

Dorothy Jane Wecker

The energy behind Dorothy Jane Wecker’s inner compass was empathy.  She was the personification of her maiden name, Sweet.

Dottie believed the best of everyone, unless you were a Democrat.  She was a worrier, a warrior among worriers, but she seldom worried for herself.  She worried for those she loved.  The youngest of her five children, Andy, remembers once scaling this mountain of maternal worry:

“She fought me tooth and nail when I bought my first motorcycle. There’s a photo of her and dad standing in front of it, taken before I left on a solo road trip to Yellowstone.  She had a huge smile.  I think she was proud and excited for me to be heading off on a big adventure.”

She got her looks from the McQuigg side of her family and was as pretty as any movie star.  In her younger days, she was an actual Akron Beacon Journal society page debutante.  Many times, even in later years, she would use verbiage that had her offspring leafing through the dictionary.  Not because she told us to look up a word, but so we’d know what she was talking about.  We can all remember, for instance, her asking us to forgive what she called her “many vicissitudes.”

Her favorite pet name for anyone was “dearheart,” and she used it often. She had beautiful handwriting and signed letters with creative salutations – among them, “Oceans of love” and “Love you ‘til the stars fall from the sky.”  When you told her you loved her, she’d say, “I love you more.”

Dottie went to Stephens College in Missouri because they had an equestrian program and finished at Akron University with a major in nutrition and home economics.  During World War II, she was a Rosie the Riveter, helping to assemble fighter planes and bombers for the war effort.  Her heroes, aside from Jesus, were non-mainstream types like Albert Schweitzer, Ben Carson and Robert Frost.

She was by no means a fabulous cook.  Her kids grew up thinking she invented blackened cuisine.  It sometimes seemed the only way she could prepare a hotdog without burning it was to boil it.  But she was without equal as a baker.  Her apple pies and loaves of hot Irish soda bread dripping with melted butter will be forever missed.

A few days ago, Dottie had a conversation with daughters, Liz and Nancy, who took care of her these past several years.  The conversation went like this:

Dottie, “I’m glad you got to see me before I leave.”

Liz, “Why? Where are you going?”

Dottie, pointing upward, “To heaven.”

To which, Nancy asked, “Couldn’t you just go up to heaven for a few days then come back so we don’t miss you too much?”

At that, Dorothy just shrugged.  OK, she’d wait a while longer.  Then a few days later, when she was sleeping, she decided the coast was clear and slipped away.

She never sat down to lunch or dinner without bowing her head and saying this prayer:

Let all of us in full accord

Give grateful thanks unto the Lord,

A very kind and gracious Lord

Who gives us more than our reward.

Dottie is survived by three daughters, Debbie Johnston (Norman) of Chittenango, NY, Nancy Wecker and Liz Wecker (Dan Terry), both of Sharon Center, OH, two sons, David (Karen) of Alexandria, KY, and Andrew (Kendra) of Sunbury, OH; 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; a brother, Roger (Marlene) Sweet of Lake Stevens, WA, and cousins Mary Jones of Copley, OH, and Martha (Sam) Salem of Akron, OH.  She is preceded in death by her husband, Willard “Bud” Wecker; her mother and father, Helen and Byron “Bing” Morgan Sweet; and two brothers, Richard and Bradford.

Calling Hours will be held Saturday, July 9 from 11A.M.-1P.M. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 6462 Ridge Rd., Sharon Center, OH 44274. Memorial Service will follow at 1 P.M.

Services in care of The Billow Funeral Homes & Crematory, Fairlawn Chapel, 85 N Miller Road, Akron, OH  44333.