Dorothy J. Oliver
August 26, 2022
Dorothy J. Oliver, a long-time high school English teacher, died suddenly Sunday, August 14, in Portland, Maine. She was 83.
She taught hundreds of students, working alongside her late husband, Robert W. "Bob" Oliver, who was a math teacher, at Meigs High School, Wahama High School, and Southern High School, in Mason County, West Virginia, and Meigs County, Ohio.
She was born August 29, 1938, in Orton, West Virginia, the first child of the late Jennings and Lucille (Smith) Butler. She learned the meaning of hard work growing up on a farm and helping care for seven younger siblings.
At rest with her husband
In May of 2023, a private family memorial gathering was held in Dorothy's memory. Later, in keeping with the wishes of Dorothy and Bob, her husband of 58 years, their ashes were scattered together on "the hill," as they affectionately referred to the property they owned in Mason for more than 50 years. It's the place where they were most at peace, where they spent more time together than anywhere else, and where they will be together forever.
The first in her family to attend college, she met Bob at Glenville State College in West Virginia and they were married in 1960. They lived most of their lives in Mason, West Virginia. After she retired from teaching, she also worked as a proofreader for companies in Columbus, Ohio.
In the past year, she had moved to South Portland, Maine, to live near her daughter, Lynne Houle. She is survived by Lynne and a son-in-law, Chris Houle, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; a son, Lance Oliver, and daughter-in-law, Ivonne M. García, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; two grandsons, Caelan Houle of Biddeford, Maine, and Luc Houle, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; six siblings; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband of 58 years, and a younger brother, Rick Butler.
Among other civic involvement, she was active for many years in the Ohio chapter of the National Organization for Women and she supported and volunteered at her local libraries.