Roberta June Dowis Kirby

Roberta June Dowis Kirby, 88, died Sunday, November 4, at her home in Topanga, Ca.

Roberta was born in 1924 at Sheridan, Mo., to William Jr. (June) and Cleola F. (Quete Morgan) Dowis. She married Dan Kirby in 1961.

Roberta and her sister, Bette, moved to Ca. during World War II and worked in factories as "Rosie the Riveters," helping build airplanes for the war. Then she joined World Council of Churches, a precursor to the Peace Corps, and sailed on the Seven Seas Ship. She worked in post-war Germany and North Africa helping build churches and homes.

After graduating from California State University - Northridge, she taught school and soon only substituted because she and Dan loved to travel so much.

Besides teaching, she was a wonderful story teller and pupils enjoyed having her walk into the school often… maybe wearing a bright pink hat! When she came to Sheridan to visit her parents of the farm, she would pick up odd things like hedge balls, buckeyes and things that California children had never seen.

Roberta was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Charles N. Dowis, and two nieces, Becky Cathy, and a nephew, Dirk.

Besides her husband, Dan, she is survived by her sister Bette Bradley, Yorba Linda, Ca., Joyce Dowis Chambers, Maryville, and Franklin M. Dowis, Colorado Springs, Co., and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Roberta's ashes will be brought back to be placed beside her parents in the Brethren Cemetery near Sheridan and where she was baptized many years ago.