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Dorothy McCleery Redding May 14, 1927 - April 7, 2008 |
David's Blog | |||||||||||||||
Dorothy McCleery Redding was born on May 14, 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio to Dr. John Maxwell McCleery and Pearl Mae Roe McCleery. Dee had a four-year-older sister named Eileen. Dr. McCleery specialized in tropical medicine for he longed to be a medical missionary in the South Sudan, which he did at Doleib Hill. Then the family moved to New Concord, Ohio where for thirty-five years he was the physician at Muskingum College and taught all the pre-med courses. In addition to Dorothy’s proficiency in art, she and Eileen enjoyed outstanding looks and voices, becoming well known for their duets and singing all over Ohio. Dorothy, or Dee as she was called, was quarantined for polio at age fourteen. That experience introduced her to her very own God whom she shared with far more than family. Her complete recovery came not only through her faith, but also from her brave spirit that included teaching life-guarding to the contingent of Marines returning from World War II. She graduated from Muskingum in 1948. |
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She also followed her mother’s lead and went to Biblical Seminary in New York, and graduated
with a Masters in Christian Education from Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary in 1951. She
married her childhood sweetheart, World War II veteran Ensign David Asbury Redding on June
16, 1951, and started with him their family: Marion Telford, John Maxwell (Shari), David
Mitchell (Bobbie), and Mark McCleery (Sarah), Sandy McIntosh (Fred) and, Rob Greene (Pam),
Chris Way (Pam) and Ashley, and Jennie Tran. She enjoyed her grandchildren, SPC. Alexei With the modest legacy her father left her, Dee took the whole family to Europe not only for the fun of it but for the eye-opener it was. Over the years she took into her home and family and loved with all her heart more than twenty people; they barely stretched her bountiful table. All excelled in school and took part helping around the house. One of the children gently placed a chameleon upon her hair-do at the dinner table. Following the chameleon's jump to her sandwich a chase ensued that everyone respected after that. She taught music at the Chester Elementary School in West Salem, Ohio and art to private students who came to her, and at Florida’s famed School for the Deaf and the Blind. It only takes her laughter like her singing to bring her back to mind. |
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| Her grieving husband attempted this closing tribute his last morning at Liberty Barn Church: | |||||||||||||||||
| You Taught Me How to Dance (with apologies to “Miss Potter”) |
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| It’s a painful triumph for My Dee to get here Sundays, anymore, Tied to a chair and perched on wheels; Why, she used to teach the Marines how to swim, And I had a showpiece jitterbug To teach me how to dance. You caught me, dear, with your sky blue eyes; And with your beguiling arms around me, You made a sailor brainless. So, I’m still ready to dance with you forever. How time flies! It only seems like yesterday This also applies to the nearly 30 years all of you took To show me how to let down my hair and Dance with Old Liberty. But I won’t forget that night My partner got the steps across to me, till all of you -- And I know it must have seemed forever -- Finally encircled a wooden-legged preacher Who only said he loved you till You taught him how to dance In here. (October 14, 2007) |
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| Come Celebrate Dee’s Life and Life to Come with us at Liberty Barn Church, on April 20,
2008 at 2 o’clock p.m. 7080 Olentangy River Rd. , Delaware, OH 43015. Gifts in her memory
may be given to the Community Health Access Project, Attn: Dan Wertenberger, 445 Bowman St., PO Box 1986, Mansfield, OH 44901 or Liberty Church to finish the
Carriage House. Arrangements by Rutherford-Corbin Funeral Home, 515 High Street, Worthington, Ohio 43085. Condolences to www.rutherfordfuneralhome.com. |
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