Keating, Oregon
Mary Caroline Dolby, 91, of Baker City, died Nov. 21, 2004, at Ashley Manor.
Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Friends are invited to join the family for a luncheon at the Baker Elks Lodge, 1896 Second St. after the committal service.
Visitations will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Gray’s West & Co.
Mary Caroline Colton Dolby was born on Feb. 26, 1913, in upper Keating Valley in the big Colton house beside the Powder River. Her parents were John and Nora Gilkison Colton. She was the second child and first girl born in a family of 15. She had seven brothers and seven sisters.
Mary attended grade school at the Washington schoolhouse above the Colton ranch (the Medical Springs Grange Hall in later years.) She stayed in Baker City at her grandparents’ home on Spring Garden Avenue, finishing school at St. Francis Academy. She graduated in 1931.
She married James Ford Dolby on Nov. 24, 1934. They lived most of their lives in upper Keating Valley. Mary drove the Keating School bus for 10 years and was janitor at the same time.
She embroidered, tatted, crocheted, and sewed beautiful clothes. Her daughters wore pinafores and homemade clothes even through high school and enjoyed them so much. She raised a garden and always had a pretty yard and flowers. She canned lots of food over the years and cooked wonderful meals.
She enjoyed belonging to the Medical Springs Extension Club and was an honorary member of the Baker County CattleWomen.
Survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, Ron and Lonna Dolby of Baker City; daughters and sons-in-law, Mary Lou and Bucky Wirth of Medical Springs, and Betty Jean and George Dwyer of Medford; 10 grandchildren and their spouses, John and Janice Wirth and Jim and Lori Wirth, all of Medical Springs, Vickie and Cal Foster of Baker Valley, Brian Dolby and Craig and Shelia Dolby of Baker City, Tami Randall of Portland, Neil and Karen Tally of Phoenix, Ore., Debbie and Cliff Knotts and Patti and Bill Huss of Vancouver, Wash., and Bill Dwyer of Medford; 26 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren; brothers John Colton and Don Colton and his wife, Ann, of Baker City; sisters, June Premovich and her husband, George, of Wenatchee, Wash., Nell Owen of Baker City, Jean Thompson and her husband, Elmer, of Mount Vernon, LaRue Brooks and her husband, Stan, of Richland, Joyce Turner and her husband, Jim, of Elgin, and Gail Stevenson and her husband, Chuck, of Kent, Wash.; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Nora Colton; her husband of 56 years, Ford Dolby; baby daughter, Dorothy May; one sister, Madge Lloyd; and five brothers, Frank, Hugh, Phil, Bill, and Blaine Colton.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Baker County Livestock Producers Foundation Scholarship, through Gray’s West & Co., P.O. Box 726, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, November 26, 2004
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor
