Obituary - Dorothy A. DeBoer

Monday, November 26, 2001
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Longtime Southeast Alaska resident and Juneau educator Dorothy Annabelle DeBoer died Nov. 19, 2001, in Bellevue, Wash.

She was born in Juneau on March 19, 1923, and was raised on her family's homestead at Gustavus. She attended high school in Juneau and then enrolled in Northwest Bible College in Seattle. She graduated summa cum laude from Seattle Pacific College. She received a master's and a doctorate in education at Greeley, Colo.

She met and married Charles DeBoer in 1947, and the couple began teaching in Nenana that same year. In 1950, the DeBoers moved to Juneau and taught in the Juneau-Douglas school system. In 1967, she took a position as principal of the Glacier Valley Elementary School, making her the first female principal in the Juneau-Douglas school system.

She stayed at the Glacier Valley school until she retired in 1977.

DeBoer was active in church activities at the Juneau and Gustavus Assembly of God churches. She volunteered as principal of the Juneau Christian School, and taught at various churches and religious organizations. She spent nearly two years in Brussels, Belgium, as an editor for the International Correspondence Institute, and taught in the Asia Pacific Bible College in the Philippines and South Pacific Bible College in Fiji.

In 1992, DeBoer compiled a book entitled "We Remember Gustavus, Alaska, 1917-1950."

She was preceded in death by her parents, William White and Inez May Chase; and sisters Gloria Millsap and Genevieve Olsen.

She is survived by her husband Charles, Gustavus; son Morgan DeBoer, Gustavus; daughter Donna DeBoer-Williams and her husband Michael Williams, Gustavus; brothers Charles White, Bainbridge Island, Wash., Ed White, Chehalis, Wash., and William White, Gustavus; sisters Henrietta House, Maltby, Wash., Anne Gregg, Juneau, and Alice Ackerman, Sequim, Wash.; and three grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 1 p.m. at Bethel Christian Center in Juneau. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Gustavus Emergency Response, P.O. Box 144, Gustavus, AK 99826. The family can be reached at P.O. Box 137, Gustavus, AK 99826.