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.

More Memories

Terry Boyle writes:

Dorothy's passing, I guess, didn't come as a surprise to me :-( We had just reconnected e-mail-wise about a week before she passed away. She had described her many ailments, her heart attack and was a most dejected camper. She was bright, talented with an ubiquitous sense of humour ...

I get the feeling she is in a better place ....

Simple but says it all

From Dean Judd:

Thanks for doing all this. For the short time I knew Dorothy, she was always fun to be around.

Googling Dorothy

While I look through my digital pictures hoping to find something of Dorothy, I did a little Googling. Dorothy's death must have been sudden, for here is a recent letter published in her local paper:

'Wicked City' not to be missed

Recently I witnessed live theater history in the making -- in our very own Saugatuck! Mason Street Warehouse is presenting the world premiere of the musical comedy "Wicked City" (not suitable for children) from now through September 5 (" 'Wicked City' takes long path to Mason Street Warehoue," Press, Aug. 15).

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard and my hands are still red from applauding so much. The entire audience eagerly jumped to its feet for a standing ovation for the wonderful cast of professional performers -- including Grand Rapids' Lisa Whitley, South Haven's Nicholas Dalton, and Cedar Spring's Larry Young. The set is phenomenal.

Those who miss this show will be kicking themselves for some time to come. Don't miss it!

DOROTHY LUSTIG

Douglas

I also discovered Dorothy was a driving force behind a spoof bridge walk, and was responsible for each year's T-shirt design.

This article (original layout in PDF here) on the 2001 walk has a color photo (right, click on it for full-size) of Dorothy from 2001. Here's another article from the 2002 walk where she's quoted at the end. And she appears again here. She's featured, and makes the photos again in this article! (Photo below, click to enlarge.) And here she describes the idea behind the walk. Here's more on handling the fame of being on the front page. Update: And here's an article on the very first bridge walk, yes she's there!

Her name also lives on in a few joke collections where she forwarded her Leno quotes on from Tandem's DL.HUMOR list, here, here, and here. (You may have to search for "Lustig" as some of them are long.)

These show Dorothy well; she loved anything funny. When I left Tandem it was Dorothy who took over administrative duty of my wisecracking Tandem mailing list, DL.CRAZIES (which itself was a milder version of my original, and far more cynical, DL.FLAME). Anyone still on what's left of DL.CRAZIES, please pass the word on Dorothy and join us on this blog.

I don't know if this is our Dorothy; Saugatuck is on the other side of that bridge.