Former teacher in Hicksville co-owned farm

3/22/2001

HICKSVILLE - Dorothy M. Rohrs, a retired teacher and a farm wife in Defiance County's Hicksville Township, died Tuesday at Parkview Memorial Hospital, Fort Wayne, Ind. She was 85.

Mrs. Rohrs died after an apparent heart attack, her son, Brian, said. She was a patient in the hospital for about a month.

She was an English teacher at Hicksville Junior High School for 17 years, retiring in 1981. As a teacher, Mrs. Rohrs emphasized the basics of English grammar and punctuation.

Her son said she prided herself on teaching students to enjoy reading and writing.

“She was from the old school. You had to learn your grammar and your punctuation first,” her son said. “I think she took the most pride in educating good students, and then seeing them go on to success in teaching and other fields.”

Mrs. Rohrs graduated from Hicksville High School in 1933. She was valedictorian of her high school graduating class, and she continued her education at Defi-ance College, where she received a bachelor's degree in English in 1937. Later, she took graduate classes toward a master's degree at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

She was a longtime member and president of Hicksville's Acme Club, a literary group devoted to the discussion of current books. She was a member of the Retired Teachers Association of Ohio, and was a former member of the former Loyal Farm Women's Club and the former Defiance County Farm Women's Federation.

Mrs. Rohrs was co-owner with her husband, George, of a 160-acre grain farm, about two miles east of the village of Hicksville. She was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Hicksville, where she was pianist and organist for more than 70 years. She taught Sunday school at the church for many years.

“I guess the one quality that would stand out about her life was that she always followed through on everything she started,” her son noted.

Her grandson, Chris Rohrs, said that his grandmother “loved meeting her former students and finding out what happened to them. That always made her happy. Teaching was one of her main passions. She enjoyed it greatly.”

He added that his grandmother's courage in the face of hardship and loss impressed him. “I'll always remember Grandma for being very resilient. She always kept moving, even when things got really tough,” he said.

Surviving are her husband of 59 years, George H.; sons, Brian and Alan; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Brown Funeral Home, Hicksville, where the body will be after 2 p.m. today. The family requests tributes to the American Heart Association.