Dorothy Virginia Unruh

Funeral Services will be 10:00 a.m. Monday June 20, 2022 at the Plainview Mennonite Church, Chickasha, Oklahoma. Interment will be at Plainview Mennonite Cemetery under the direction of Sevier Funeral Home

Our Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, and Great Great Grandmother, Dorothy Virginia (Smith) Unruh, was born to Elmer and Bertha (Jantz) Smith on April 2, 1930. She was born at home, on a farm west of Chickasha. She was the 2 nd of 4 children. She passed away in her home on June 16, 2022, at 7:24 pm.

She and her family moved to the Walsh, Colorado, area as a young child. This was during the dust bowl years, and life was tough. Finding it impossible to make a living in Colorado, they moved back to Oklahoma in a Model T in 1934. Her Mom and Dad rented a farm west of Chickasha.

She attended the Sandlin School for her eight years of formal education but constantly learned from the university of life. Growing up on a farm, she developed the skill set required to keep a home. Her mother had a large garden and many fruit trees, and Mom learned to cook and can from a great teacher.

At 12 years of age, Mom felt God's call to his service. Yielding her heart to Jesus, she was baptized on February 28, 1943, becoming a member of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite. She kept her vows.

Mom didn't travel far to meet our father. They grew up across the road from one another and spent their young years as neighbors; the children from both families often played together or walked the roads singing. Mom told us she knew whom she would marry when she was still in Grade school. In the evenings, they would sometimes wave each other goodnight. They were married July 17, 1949, at the Plainview Mennonite Church, with the reception in the evening in Mother's parental home.

They lived in several places before moving to the small farm west of Verden, and shortly after their marriage, Mom was a cook at Sandlin School.

God blessed their home with two sons. Around 1959 or 1960, Mom and Dad both dreamed very vivid dreams the same night. Although the dreams differed slightly, the message was essentially the same. As time passed, God led them to sponsor several children and eventually adopt their three daughters. In retrospect, they realized the import of the dreams had been fulfilled.

Dad and Mom enjoyed life on the small farm west of Verden. Mom was a homemaker, and in their younger years, she had a huge garden and canned a lot of food for her family. They built several barns for Chickens and kept a couple of thousand laying hens selling eggs to many small stores in the surrounding area. Mom spent a lot of time taking care of this business. Eventually, they put in a dairy, and she worked hard to make it a success. Dad was a carpenter almost all his life; our Mother packed many lunches.

She had a great heart and was a caring "mother" to many in her younger years. Having other children in her home was quite common.   She was "adopted" by an Indian family, and some of their children spent many days in Mom and Dad's home.

As Dad's health began to fail, Mom started working as a housekeeper and became close friends with many of her clients.   She was a housekeeper for the USAO college presidents' home for 30 years.

Dad and Mom traveled twice to Nicaragua to visit children stationed there as missionaries.

Our parents left the farm and moved to Chickasha in October 2009. Mom loved having her family over. Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were always welcome. Meals together as a family were a particular delight. She loved to set a beautiful table and always wanted to use fine dishes and cutlery. No paper and plasticware for her! She loved dishes. Her centerpieces were often things she gathered from the yard.

On August 19, 2014, God called Dad home. Mom was lonely, but she determined not to withdraw herself from social settings.   She loved flowers and spent a lot of time with potted house plants and had a beautiful flower garden in her yard. Mom honestly had a green thumb.

In February, Mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She accepted the diagnosis and elected to have surgery. Her surgery was on March 17, 2022. Unfortunately, the Doctor could not remove all of the tumor. She recovered from the surgery but never regained her ability to speak clearly. Her speech worsened as cancer continued to spread. This inability to express herself was very frustrating to her. Her condition steadily grew worse, and she required constant companionship.

Reading in the Bible was dear to her. After the onset of her illness, she often expressed disappointment that she had lost the ability to read and understand. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the Bible being read aloud to her, and always voiced her thanks when we prayed with her. She was concerned with being ready to meet God.

At the beginning of her illness, she spoke several times of the patriarch Jacob, who gathered his feet into his bed and passed away. This, she said, is how she wanted to die. The morning of the day she passed away, the family gathered around her bed and prayed, committing her to God and asking God to take her home. She died the day after she lost her ability to walk and would have been bedfast from that day forward. We believe God answered her desire and our prayer.

She leaves us sorrowing but happy that she is no longer suffering, and though we cry, we know she has shown us the way home.

She is survived by: Two sons, Steve and wife, Anita, Phillip, and wife Tamara; three daughters, Soonie and husband Allen Unruh, Shilly and husband DeVern Schmidt, and Janifer and husband, Douglas Unruh.

Twelve grandchildren; Tiffany Barrera and husband Joel, Brian Unruh and wife Erin, Bryson Schmidt and wife Dana, Lance Unruh and wife Mandy, Nolan Schmidt and wife Renee, Megan May and husband Kyle, Kara Smith and husband Troy, Craig Unruh and wife Nancy, Jeremy Unruh, Austin Schmidt, and wife Kylee, Zachary Unruh and wife Alicia and Jessica Unruh.

24 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. 1 Sister, Winnie Smith, 1 Brother Willis Smith

She was preceded in death by her husband Jesse, her parents, one brother, one sister-in-law, one brother-in-law, and one great-grandchild.

​ Thank you to all who've shared condolences.  A special thanks to Life Line Hospice for their loving, exemplary care during our mother's illness.