Dorothy A. Bever

Bever, Dorothy A., died May 24, 2008. She was born in Paxton, Illinois, October, 1905, the youngest of seven children. Her mother died when she was four; her father died when she was sixteen. The family lived in many small Illinois towns, where she and her sister often sang at weddings and in operettas and musical shows. After graduating from high school, having no money for college, she went on her own to Washington D.C. where she worked in and then managed a beauty shop, living in a boarding house with girls from many different states. Those were happy years. She met Ellis Bever, a student at George Washington University Law School, and married him, moving to Topeka and finally to Wichita in 1937. Ellis Bever, founder of the law firm Bever, Dye, died in 1998. During her many years in Wichita, Dorothy served on the Board of the Wichita Guidance Center, was active in her daughters schools, and loved reading, writing, singing and playing cards. She outlived her many longtime friends, and became a wise mentor to younger women. Though hampered in her last years by physical weakness and blindness, her courage, quick wit, and sense of humor endured. Her belief in Gods mercy and in her eventual reunion with her beloved husband and their daughter who died at birth never wavered. She is with them now. Dorothy is survived by her daughter, Vicki Cox, and husband David of San Francisco, grandsons, Brian Cox and wife Laurie of Washington D.C. and Carson Cox and wife Debbie of Mill Valley, Calif, and great-granddaughters India, Quinn, and Nell of Washington and Elena, Sophia, and Georgia of Mill Valley. The memorial service will be held on Sunday, June 1, at 3 p.m., at Downing and Lahey Mortuary East. Tributes may be sent to the family via www.dlwichita.com