Dorothea B. Reeves Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

12/27/1918 – 8/7/2016 Dorothea Bertha Obbarius born on December 27, 1918 to her parents, Berta Vogt and Armin Victor Obbarius in New York City. She attended Flushing High School and graduated in 1936. She lost her mother at a very early age and was raised by her grandmother Mina and her very strict father. She loved riding horses and had both a pony and a dog named Mobofobo. She married John Arthur Leo Reeves at the age of 20 and proceeded to start her own baseball team of five boys and four girls. Life wasn’t easy for her and definitely never dull. There was constant cooking, washing, bathing, ironing, food shopping and homework to be done as well as all the activities that she had to transport us to and from. By the time all 9 of us children were born, we lived in Long Beach in a four bedroom house with only one bathroom. She had all she could do to keep us on schedule and get us out of the house for all our different destinations. How she did it was mind-boggling. She never seemed to get angry, didn’t swear and never yelled at anyone. In her spare time, she was a wonderful seamstress and made not only many of our play clothes and school uniforms but also the habits for the nuns of St. Ignatius Church in Long Beach where most of us spent our childhoods. There were also many prom dresses, graduation outfits and numerous other items made for us lucky children. She was a beautiful woman who loved to wear Emeraude perfume and show off her children. None of us could do any wrong and she was right there to defend and protect us. She was a stickler for the correct usage of the English language and grilled pronunciation and spelling into all of us. After raising her family, at the age of 49, she went to work at the New York Telephone Company where she was the “information lady” in Hempstead, New York and had many a good story to tell about the people who constantly got on her line. Retiring at the age of 63, not to be an idle person, she became the daytime caregiver to her granddaughters. During our growing up years, she was both a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout Leader. She never complained when the family dogs gave birth to numerous puppies and we all brought strangers home to the dinner table. Family Christmas’ were spectacular and on Easter, each of us had new outfits, either homemade or store bought to wear to Mass. She was a romantic, loved Perry Como and Doris Day, her favorite movie being “Gone with the Wind” and her favorite song was “Stardust”. She loved poetry and taught us to live by a quote by William Shakespeare, “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night and day. Thou cannot then be false to any man.” She was one of the most honest people you could ever meet having no mean bones in her body and no harsh thoughts about anyone. A truly great and strong woman making her children proud of her. She is survived by 7 of her children, 15 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren and their respective families.

Dorothea B. Reeves

December 27, 1918 - August 7, 2016