Dorothy King Delk

Dorothy Mae King was the first born of fraternal twin sisters in Dayton, Ohio to parents Ella Florence Deady and Clyde Emory King. She graduated from Parker Cooperative High School in Dayton, where she studied business, retail management, and fashion merchandising. Dorothy had an early interest in theater arts and fashion. She had the opportunity to work with Doris Day, Bob Hope, and Les Brown on fashion show and variety show productions used to help develop material for the USO. She was a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. She married Robert Delk in 1943 and they had three daughters. Dorothy studied drama with Byron McGrath at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. An accomplished character actor, Dorothy participated as a rep actor at the Carousel Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she worked with John Cullum. She was a long-term member of the Oshkosh Community Players in Wisconsin where she acted and directed. She also performed in several university productions in Oshkosh and produced and directed local plays and musicals, including the Miss Oshkosh pageant. Dorothy was one of the initial organizers and treasurer of the Grand Opera House restoration project in Oshkosh. Dorothy worked for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Blackhawk Commons Bookstore as head cashier. She trained new employees and for a time headed up the textbook division. She won first place in a national essay and design competition for her visual display work protesting the effort to ban books. Dorothy is preceded in death by loving parents Clyde and Ella King, brother Charles Raab, Jr., sister Ruby Mae Bailey, daughter Carol Delk Thompson, nephew Christopher Bailey, and former husband Robert Delk. She is survived by daughters Lesley Delk and Julia Delk of Bloomington, Indiana, grandsons Skylar Delk, Evan Boehner and Kyle Boehner of Bloomington, Alex Thompson of Englewood, Colorado, granddaughter Libby Boehner of Bloomington, nieces Ann Bailey of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and April Raab Voorhis of West Nyak, New York, and nephews Robin Bailey of Milwaukee and Charles Raab, III of Litchfield Beach, South Carolina. Contributions are welcome in Dorothy's memory to the Carol Delk Thompson Children's Theatre at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama. Dorothy passed away peacefully in Bloomington on January 2nd at Hospice House, attended by her family. Allen Funeral Home of Bloomington, Indiana provided final arrangements. The family will hold a private memorial gathering to be determined later. Condolences may be sent to www.allenfuneralhome.org.

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Dorothy King Delk

October 11, 1920 - January 2, 2012