Dorothy Vanderpas, age 92, of Glenwood, MN, died Tuesday, July 14, 2015, at Glenwood Retirement Village.  Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 1:00 P.M. at First Baptist Church in Glenwood, with Pastor Andy Lewis officiating.  Visitation will be from 5:00 – 7:30 P.M. on Friday at the funeral home in Glenwood and will resume at the church on Saturday, one hour prior to the service.  Interment will be in Glenwood Cemetery.  Arrangements are with Hoplin-Hitchcock Funeral Home of Glenwood.

Dorothy Oscarina Vanderpas, was born on March 13, 1923, to Oscar and Nina (Peterson) Nordstrom in Indiana.  When she was 9 years old her family moved to Dassel, MN.  She was confirmed at the South Kingston Mission Covenant Church and graduated valedictorian from Dassel High School in 1940.

That fall Dorothy attended Winona State Teachers College.  While in Winona, she attended the First Baptist Church, where she met her future husband, Tony Vanderpas.  Dorothy taught school for a short while and then went on to study at Moody Bible Institute.  By this time, Tony was in the Army.  The two were married on March 15, 1944, and made their home in Columbia, South Carolina.  Dorothy worked as a seamstress at Fort Jackson where Tony was stationed.  When Tony was deployed to Europe, Dorothy returned to Dassel until Tony's discharge from the Army.

Following the war, they made their home at various places in the Twin Cities until purchasing a farm near Forest Lake, MN.  In 1967, when Interstate-35 was built through that farm, they moved to Sedan, where they lived until 1978, when they moved to Woodbury, and finally to Glenwood in 1991.  They celebrated their 50 ^th Anniversary in 1994, shortly before Tony died of cancer.

Dorothy was a hard-working farm wife and mother, but, after her family was grown she worked at Ramada Inn in Woodbury.  During her time there she was named Ramada World-wide Employee of the Year and was rewarded with a wonderful week of vacation in London. Dorothy was a quiet, gentle, soft spoken, born-again Christian woman who loved her church family and all her activities at First Baptist Church: choir, playing piano, Christen Women's group, Bible study, state office in WCTU, the Awana program, and going on a mission trip to Jamaica when she was well into her 70's.  Throughout her life she also wrote poetry, enjoyed embroidery and, in her later years, made quilts for all her children and grandchildren.  She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007 and lived 6 years at Parkview Court, then Glenwood Village Care Center and, finally the Rainbow Center at GRV, where she received outstanding and loving care.

Dorothy is survived by her 7 children, Esther (Dennis) Gustafson of Crystal, Arlys (Dave) Engler of Glenwood, Darlene (Tom) Wagner of Ettrick, WI, Dan (Gail) Vanderpas of The Villages, FL, Vernon (Kaye) Vanderpas of Grand Forks, ND, Jim Vanderpas of Stacy, and Janet (Ray) Francis of Holly Hill, FL.  She is also survived by 14 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, a sister-in-law, Jane (Roman) Weis of Glenwood, cousins, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Tony; parents, Oscar and Nina Nordstrom; her brother, Wallace, and his wife, Gladys; parents-in-law, Nick and Amanda Vanderpas; Tony's sister, Louettie, and her husband, Phil Kochendorfer.