Dorothea McGauvran's Obituary
Dorothea Anna Louise McGauvran, 101, (formerly a resident at 405 Oakhurst and the Sarah Harding Retirement Home), died Monday morning at The Alverno Health Care Facility in Clinton. She was born April 15, 1907 to Otto and Anna (Kaemmerer) Schuster in Little Black (near Medford), Wisconsin. She was employed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when she met her husband, John Thomas McGauvran. Shortly after their marriage November 6, 1930 in Crown Point, Indiana, they moved to Fulton, Illinois where John became a commissioned agent for the Phillips Petroleum Company. They moved to Clinton in December, 1943 and, with her husband, founded Service Oil Company as a Phillips 66 distributorship in May, 1944. She lost her husband as a result of a bulk plant fire in 1949 but the business continued under her ownership until the purchase of the business by her son Ron in 1978. The business is now in its 64th year. In 1949 her successful ownership of a business as a single mother with an eighth grade education and parenting five children (then ages 1 through 15) made her unique in 1949 and today would still be accepted as an outstanding accomplishment. Dorothea was preceded in death by five brothers, one sister and daughter-in-law Sally (April, 2008). She is survived by four sons: Ron of Clinton, James (Carol) of DeLand, FL, Terrance (Sandy) of Greensboro, NC, Thomas (Sue) of Marietta, GA and one daughter Lois (Frank) Filkins of Bluffton, SC. She was grandmother to 13 and great-grandmother to 11 children. She was a 75-year member of St. John Lutheran Church in Clinton where she was active in the St. John Sewing Circle and the Over 50 group. She enjoyed traveling whether by plane or automobile and for years made many trips to visit her children and grandchildren in the southeast. Over the years, she and her sister travelled together to Europe, Africa, and Hawaii. There will be no visitation. Pastors Wayne Brinkman and Dan Poole will conduct a private funeral service at the gravesite in Clinton Lawn Cemetery where she will be buried alongside the only love in her life, her husband, John. The family requests all memorials be directed to St. John Lutheran Church’s Future Ministry Fund.
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