Dorothy Lee Crocker, 93, passed away Friday, February 17, 2023, at The Manor at Elfindale, where she spent her final weeks after a fall and brief illness.  She was born September 22, 1929, in San Francisco, California.  Her family eventually moved to Springfield where she graduated from Central High School.  She met the love of her life, Harry Crocker, at vacation bible school, shortly after graduation.  They were married the day after Christmas in 1947 and to that union four children were born.  After the birth of the fourth son, Dorothy gave up her hope of having a daughter and focused her energies on her five boys – Harry, Mike, Pat, Bob, and Stan.

Harry and Dorothy were people of faith, and they raised their children in the Baptist faith.  Raising four boys was sometimes challenging, for despite their proper upbringing, the four boys sometimes strayed from the path, as young boys are prone to do.  But they were her boys, and no matter what, Dorothy and Harry always loved and supported them, attending and supporting their football and little league baseball games, choir concerts, Boy Scouts, and other interests.

Family was very important to Dorothy, and she relished the times the clan would gather for a holiday at the house.  She and Harry loved attending Missouri State University football and basketball games and they also enjoyed traveling to visit relatives in Georgia, but that all ended when Harry passed away in 2002.  Family members took her for what turned out to be a final visit in 2019, just before Covid, a trip both she and they enjoyed immensely.

Dorothy loved children.  She worked as a teacher's aide at two elementary schools from 1965-1967 and then moved to Springfield Demonstration Kindergarten. She and Harry eventually became the owners and operators of that business which operated until the early 2000s.  Family members sometimes meet former students or their parents, and when they passed that information on to Dorothy, she always remembered them, and often even the names of their parents.  Helping raise her grandchildren and great-grandchildren later in life was a joy that kept her going.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, Roscoe and Ollie Walker, husband Harry, and three of her four siblings.  She is survived by her four sons and their wives - Michael and Angela Crocker, Patrick and Dorelen Crocker, Robert and Sherry Crocker, and Stanley and Julie Crocker, seven grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.

A visitation will be held Sunday, February 26, 2023 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at Rivermonte Memorial Gardens Chapel, 4500 S. Lone Pine, Springfield.  A short memorial service will be held following the visitation. Interment will follow at Eastlawn Cemetery, 2244 E. Pythian, Springfield.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Friends of the Zoo.