Dorothy at the Tandem Reunion

Dorothy at the Tandem Reunion with Jimmy T; September 2002. Thanks to Rick Jarboe for finding this!

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

More on the Memorial

Remember Dorothy - from her September 4th memorial. There are photos from the memorial of Dorothy from various times, and of the guests. Rick Jarboe put them up in a Yahoo directory. Visit them here.

And once again, you can click on any picture here for a bigger version. At right is a beautiful smile from Dorothy, but no info on where it was taken. Below is the scene at sunset when Dorothy's ashes were scattered into Lake Michigan.

Dorothy's Memorial and Saying Goodbye

Here are some thoughts from Dorothy's friend Helen:

September 4, 2004. Today we held a remembrance celebration of Dorothy’s life in Douglas, Michigan, a place that was special to her from the day she arrived 10 years ago. Dorothy was a volunteer at Mason Street Warehouse, a local theatre, where she operated a refreshment kiosk and ushered during this season’s four productions. Mason Street graciously opened their doors to us to host 60 of Dorothy’s friends in a celebration that included lots of balloons (Dorothy loved balloons), food, wine and three story boards. The story boards depicted Dorothy’s life as a child, young woman and successful adult – did you know Dorothy was a blonde for a while in 1967? The best part of the day was hearing all the “Dorothy stories” and realizing how many lives Dorothy touched as a friend, neighbor and volunteer. The story boards brought the most reaction with some people vowing to burn any and all photos of themselves, while others viewed the photos and mementos with mischief in their minds and laughter in their eyes. You could tell they were plotting a similar escapade against some unsuspecting friend! You’ve got to believe that Dorothy was smiling at the new friendships that took root today, but things will never be the same without Dorothy’s caring heart and wicked sense of humor.

September 5, 2004. This evening at sunset Bill, Alan and I scattered Dorothy’s ashes onto Lake Michigan just as she wished. I don’t believe any of us thought it would be such a hard thing to do, the simple scattering of ashes on a quiet beach, but suddenly all the emotions and disbelief came back and it was August 24th all over again. We waited until sunset to avoid most of the beach strollers, they would have been an intrusion for sure. When we decided it was the right time, the water reflecting a blazing orange sunset, we took Dorothy for a walk on the beach and watch as her ashes drifted out on a slow tide. The three of us sat on the rocks and didn’t talk much for a time, instead watching a few fish jump for bugs in the remaining light. We climbed back up the stairs on the side of the bluff, took one last, long look at Lake Michigan and said our goodbyes to Dorothy.

September 6, 2004. I don’t know if all of you know this, but every year since 1998 Dorothy participated in and helped organize the Blue Star Highway bridge walk, a .19K spoof on the Macinac Island Labor Day bridge walk. This was another of Dorothy’s pet projects, and she organized a kazoo band that steadily grew in size (but not in the quality of the playing, she said) over the past 5 years. This year’s 6th annual walk broke previous records with more than 1,000 people, some with pets, taking on the big walk. Two bagpipers lead the parade following a message from the town crier, decked out in leggings, a three-corner hat and large handbell. This is serious business! Halfway across the bridge was a table with juice and grapes to revive the faint-hearted. A sign urged “The weak should turn back now”, and at the halfway mark a banner encouraged walkers with “Halfway there. Keep going”. Dorothy loved the bridge walks and left her mark on previous years with her creative tee shirt designs to commemorate the day. In 2002 Dorothy forced me to march across the bridge playing a kazoo, a parade of one, so I would qualify to receive the official bridge walk completion certificate. Mind you, this was one month after the actual event! I’m sorry Dorothy wasn’t able to see the 1,000 milestone reached and even more sad that my buddy of 27 years wasn’t able to walk with me – what fun that would have been! I know she was there in spirit. I know she left her mark on each of us. It’s those unique special memories that will visit us in the coming months and years, and make us smile the kind of smile only possible when a friendship has been true and from the heart. Goodbye, my friend. You will be missed.

Bridge Walk continues!

The 600 foot Blue Star Highway bridge walk that Dorothy helped organize (see Googling Dorothy) took place over Labor Day weekend in Douglas, Michigan. Here's an article about it, which mentions Dorothy:

Before the 9:30 a.m. walk, there was a moment of silence in memory of Dorothy Lustig, an organizer of the event, who died Aug. 24 of heart failure at 55. Lustig's contribution to the end-of-summer tradition included designing some of the Blue Star Walk T-shirts and creating the kazoo band.

"The sign is still in her garage for the kazoo band," said Helen Sanders, one of Lustig's longtime friends who came up from Florida to adopt Lustig's cats and take part in one of her friend's favorite summer rituals.

"This is the first time I can participate, but unfortunately my buddy is not here," Sanders said, adding she believes Lustig still is rooting everyone on.

"Dorothy is watching, so walk sharp," she told the crowd.

The Holland Sentinel, alas, covered the walk but did not mention Dorothy. A brief obituary was run for Dorothy in that paper on September 1st.

Helen also wrote a comment about the bridge walk here. There are also a number of comments in response to the first post of this blog.

The Corn is as High as an Elephant's Eye

My name is Cheng Chow. I used to work with Dorothy. I found an interesting picture of Dorothy. Several years ago, we had a party at Dorothy's place. When I was taking this picture, people started to throw the corn cobs at me. It's kind of funny. Hope it's not too late. Thanks.

Regards, Cheng

This was a 1992 SSG West party at Dorothy's home in Cupertino. Rick Jarboe identifies them as Mark Jadus, Kevin O'Hare, Pat Conolly, Rick Jarboe, Gale Fitzpatrick, Dorothy Lustig, (Mark Jadus's wife - sorry I forget - Bonnie I think). As usual, click on the picture for a larger version.

Halloween at Haworth in Holland - 1997

Pam Temkin writes:

You can post the picture(s) - I am attaching 2 - one was of me (as the Roarin' 20's flapper) and Dorothy (as the 'NOT ME' goddess - toga) - Halloween at Haworth in Holland - 1997. We had been very good friends since she started at Haworth at least 12 years ago - I am still there for at least 23 years now! Dorothy was such a wonderful, fun friend who we enjoyed being around! Bless her heart... may she rest in perfect peace. Miss her a lot!

Best regards,
Pam Temkin

As with most of the pictures on the blog, click on them to see a larger version.

Dorothy trying to knock over the Tower of Pisa

Rick Jarboe emailed me Dorothy's link to her photos of her Italy vacation with Sally, saying:

This is Dorothy's last vacation - The only one I found with Dorothy was [number] 82, the Pisa picture. Interesting on the day of her Death I believe I was in that same location. Kind of weird looking at these right after I return from same place. This trip was Dorothy and Sally.

Click the picture to see a bigger version.

Update 9/8/04: Rick asked me to change Helen to Sally for the vacation companion.

Michigan Memorial Service

Helen writes:

Hello, everyone! First of all, thank you more than I can say for the wonderful Dorothy website. Alan took photos of the remembrance gathering held today at 2pm at Mason Street Warehouse and the turnout was between 50 and 60 people. Even Dorothy "attended", perched on her concession kiosk with flfowers and balloons. I know Alan is planning to send photos and I will write about the gathering by Monday and send it on.

I found a password book of Dorothy's and can access my AOL thru her NetZero. I couldn't remember my saved password and AOL reset it remotely after they heard my story and I was able to answer the "secret questions" correctly. I am so tired but I think I'll get my first good night's sleep tonight. Alan, Bill and I will scatter Dorothy's ashes on Lake Michigan on Sunday, September 5th, probably at sunset.

My plans to return to Florida have been scrapped as "Frances" wants to hang out it seems. I don't remember sending Frances an invitation to Florida. In fact, I don't know anyone named Frances!! At this point the earliest I could leave is Thursday, conditions permitting in Florida. I won't worry about accomplishing all the sorting through Dorothy's personal items this trip, but I will complete gathering all the personal papers and making sure they're safe. I expect I'll make at least three more visits to Douglas in quick succession, but as soon as practical I must return home to check on any damage. As of 9pm my home still had power which I determined by calling the answering machine. My dog rescue friends put my plywood on my house and my 5 dogs are also being cared for at a safer location. All I can do now is watch and wait and check by cell phone with my Florida contacts across the state for up-to-the-minute details. Being in Deltona, only 30 miles inland, I will be watching closely. As Roseanne Rosanadanna used to say: "If it's not one thing, it's another". Right about now, I want my plain vanilla life back! I will close now but promise to send details as soon as they're ready. Thank you, again, to everyone for all the kindness and good wishes you've sent to all of us. It has made more of a difference than we can ever express. -helen =^,^=

BBQ with Dorothy, SSG-West

Here are some pictures of Dorothy in 1992 at BBQ given by Mark Jadus in 1991 or '92, for the members of the Comm Section of SSG-West. The guy with the skull is Munetaka Shimbo who was on loan to us from Japan. The two women sitting with Dorothy are the wives of two of the members of the group, Hal Moon and Goran Olsson. Dorothy was our Admin at time.

Click on any of these pictures to see a bigger version.

Dorothy, with the wives of two of the members of the group, Hal Moon and Goran Olsson (photo on right).

Dorothy with Munetaka Shimbo, on loan from Japan (photo below).

Mark continues:

Dorothy always stayed in touch, even after she moved to Michigan. She sent out her jokes through email on a regular basis. She'd come back to CA to visit and to play the lottery every so often. She nearly won the jackpot on one of her visits.