Dorothy Moerbe Theis

Dorothy Ruth Moerbe was born in Bishop, Texas to parents W.O. and Lydia Moerbe on July 1, 1923. She lived on a farm in the Concordia community with her four sisters and one brother. Each of her sisters had a special focus/talent and Dorothy’s was sewing. She was also known for making the best pie crusts. The first of her siblings to graduate from Bishop High School at age 16, she drove herself to school in town everyday in a Model A. St. Paul Lutheran Church was an important part of her life. She was baptized there as an infant; she was confirmed there on April 5, 1936 and it was there that she met her husband David Theis. She often told us the story of how she and David were addressing their wedding invitations when they got the news about Pearl Harbor being bombed. Despite the newly declared war, Dorothy and David were married at St. Paul’s on December 28, 1941.

As part of the wartime effort, David enlisted in the Army Air Corp in 1942 and was sent for training first in South Dakota and then at Jefferson Barracks outside of St. Louis, Missouri. As a young wife and mother, Dorothy was able to join David in Missouri along with their infant son David, Jr. for a few months before David was sent overseas to North Africa as an airplane radio operator and navigator. For the next three years, David and Dorothy could only correspond by letter and send photos to each other.  Due to wartime security, often Dorothy did not know exactly where her husband was located.

After the war, David and Dorothy moved to a farm in the Concordia community where David, Jr. was joined by three more siblings, Timothy, Donna Maxine, and Stephen. Dorothy was a great mother, supporting her children in all their school activities. All of us children remember her homemade “word” flashcards for practicing our reading!

She was a superb seamstress sewing everything from coats for her children’s 4-H livestock show lambs to wedding gowns for her daughter and daughter-in-law.  She didn’t even need a pattern; she could sew a dress from only a sketch. To get ideas for clothes, she would visit the department stores to see what they had and then figure out how to make something similar.

Donna remembers the red-velvet dresses she would make each Christmas. One even had a matching purse. David, Jr. has memories of his mother sewing his school shirts from feed sack fabric.  He would go to the store with his father so he could select the fabric pattern, so it wasn’t little pink or blue flowers.  Dorothy also made sure that each grandchild received one of her hand sewn quilts upon high school graduation. All of them show how creative she could be with fabric and a sewing machine.

Dorothy remained involved with church activities at St. Paul’s all her life especially LWML. She served on the Altar Committee, a member of the choir, she made and embroidered baptismal napkins, was a quilter for Lutheran World Relief, provided flowers for the altar, and served on committees.  She remained involved in church activities until well into her 90’s.  Bible reading and study were also very important to her.

Dorothy and David were married for 61 years before David passed away in 2002. Dorothy remained in Bishop until 2016 when she moved to Boerne, TX to be nearer family.

Dorothy is survived by her children and their spouses; David, Jr. and Susan, Timothy, Donna Maxine and Dennis, Stephen, and eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.

Services are entrusted to Turcotte-Piper Mortuary, 205 General Cavazos Blvd. Kingsville, Texas 78363.