- Date Of Birth: March 04, 1931
- Date Of Death: October 28, 2021
- City: Sterling
- State: Colorado
Dorothy was born on March 4, 1931, to Clarence Groves and Mable Smith Groves Moore. She was a lifelong resident of the Sterling community.
Dorothy spent her early days travelling to various county fairs with her mother who worked for a carnival ride company. She attended school in Sterling and there met her lifelong partner, Everett Duncan. They were married on January 16, 1947, in Sterling, Colorado, and moved to small farm northwest of Proctor, Colorado. For the next ten years of their marriage, they operated a small dairy, raising various crops and livestock and always a large garden.
Dorothy and Everett became parents of Sharon Kay, Robert Eugene, Leta Darlene, and Tommy Dean while living on the farm. They were parents who made every effort to raise their children with a steady hand, a loving heart, teaching them to work hard, respect life and love the ways of the Lord. They moved to Sterling in 1958, and Dorothy took a job at the Sterling police department as a dispatcher. She soon realized the shift schedule was too difficult for the family of six so she took a 9-5 job as an insurance agency receptionist and then later began working as office manager and assistant for Dr. Mackey.
In 1967, Dorothy and Everett embarked on an adventure that would lead them to touch the lives of over 450 teenage girls. They purchased property northwest of Sterling and opened Teen Acres, a residential child care facility, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Social Services for girls who were in need a stable home environment. Through the positive examples and counselling given at Teen Acres, many of the girls chose to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and went on to lead productive lives in society. Their service to these girls continued for 28 years.
In 1975, they felt led to open a Christian book store in Sterling. The Bible Lighthouse that began as a small venture that sold Bibles and Christian books, quickly quadrupled in size and expanded to add Christian music, gifts, and home décor. They operated the store for 38 years before closing it in 2013, and officially retiring.
Dorothy was an avid reader and always had a book at her side. She attended her family’s sporting events and always had her scorebook with her to keep her own set of statistics. She enjoyed watching the Colorado Rockies and the Denver Broncos. Her collection of Bronco memorabilia adorned one room in her house. She loved working in her garden and taking care of her flowers.
Dorothy is preceded in death by her parents, son Tommy, and brother-in-law Roy Benson. She is survived by husband Everett, daughter Sharon Dieterie of Windsor, CO, son Robert (Helen) of Crook, CO, daughter Leta (Tim) Propst of Atwood , CO, and daughter-in-law Mary Duncan of Sterling; sisters-in-law Elvira Benson of Sterling and Miriam (Ken) Barton of Peetz, CO; 15 grandchildren, 38 great grandchildren, 3 great-great grandchildren.
