Dorothy Woolhiser

Dorothy Eleanor Morgan Woolhiser, 93, was taken from harm’s way on Friday, January 21, 2022. She said she had lost her edge at the card table and the wii bowling lanes with her pals at the Springs and so was comfortable with letting go.

“Dot” was born and grew up on the family ranch outside Cohagen, MT, a place she called home. She often referred to the advantages of growing up in a small community like Cohagen, one being it afforded her the opportunity to be the Valedictorian of the Class of 1946. She would laugh when she explained it was quite a race between her and the other kid in her class.

She married Don Woolhiser on October 3rd, 1948 and though they divorced some 20 years later they shared three sons. She was proud of what became of “her boys”, but was easily goaded into admitting it wasn’t always easy. In her self-deprecatory way she would say that what she didn’t or couldn’t do for them the community of Miles City, where she spent most of her adult life, did for her. She would say of Miles City, “The town was the size where folks knew who was whose. They would wink and nod and look another way if your child pulled a prank. If a crime was committed folks weren’t so kindly.”

Dot spent most of her working life in the Custer County Courthouse. She started in the Treasurer’s office and after a number of years was persuaded to run for, became, and ultimately retired as, the Clerk and Recorder there. She wrote one of her relatives, “I survived a number of elections. They are easy to win if you run unopposed!”

After retiring in Forsyth, MT, she spent a number of years cavorting with “Swede” Schlesinger, a rancher in the Ingomar, MT area. They travelled extensively together and left behind scrapbooks of their African Safari, their trip up the Amazon, an agricultural venture to Scandinavia and Russia, and golf trips to Europe and Asia, and more. She would say that visiting some of the places and doing some of the things that came her way exceeded any of her--“a girl from Garfield County!”--expectations .

Dot was always generous. She saw and felt the needs of others. Her favorite organization, because it broadly impacts the needs and causes of the community and those she knew best, is the Northern Rosebud County Community Foundation in Forsyth. Her wish would be that any remembrance be given to your own local community foundation or favorite cause.

Dot was predeceased by her parents, Ludmila Pluhar Morgan and Edward James Morgan, and two brothers, Edward Charles Morgan and Leo Morgan. Survivors include her brother, Patrick, in Northridge, California; her sons, Dale (Nancy Thompson), Missoula, MT; Robert (Monica), Forest Grove, OR; David, Hillsboro, OR; and 4 grandchildren.

Though she leaves behind a loving family and many friends we are all now blessed with her memory.