Dorothy A. (Bork) Anderson

Dorothy A. (Bork) Anderson, age 86, died peacefully at her home in Aberdeen on Monday, December 1, 2014.

There will be a celebration of Dorothy's long, fruitful, life at 10:00 a .m., Tuesday, December 9, 2014, at Schriver's Memorial Mortuary & Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen with Reverend Hyle Anderson, of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, officiating. Services of interment will take place at the S.D. National Veterans Cemetery in Sturgis, where she will re-join "Hap" for her eternal rest in the majestic beauty of the Black Hills.

Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Monday and one hour prior to the service Tuesday, all at the mortuary.

The family asks that any memorials be made out to St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Aberdeen

Dorothy was born October 2, 1928, in rural Edgeley, ND and grew up on the Bork family farm with her parents Gust and Emma (Beglau) and her siblings and together they survived the Great Depression of the "Dirty-30s", as well as the Second World War. The youngest of the six Bork offspring or "baby" of the family, because of the war, she worked hard in the fields, right alongside her "Pop", Gust Bork, and her uncles, Ernie and Emil, especially to help them bring in the bountiful wheat and other small-grain harvests of the war years and as a result, they gave her the nickname the "iron-baby"!

Following her completion of high school in Edgeley, ND, she went off to college in the footsteps of her older sisters, Irene and Isabelle, in order to become a Home Economics Teacher, just like them. She often looked back fondly on her years in Fargo at "Ol' AC" - now known as North Dakota State University (NDSU) and oh how well, she remembered the lessons faculty members had taught her. Following college graduation, she went on to teach in Park Rapids, Mandan, and Bismarck and was a true leader in 4-H.

Then she moved to Sioux Falls, S.D., having taken a position with Northern States' Power Company as a supervisor in the home service department. She often looked back fondly on this experience with her travels throughout the "Sioux Empire" in a company vehicle, to demonstrate new products, such as the newly introduced "Radar Ranges", as well as performing cooking demonstrations at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron.

Before long, she was introduced to Lowell F. "Hap" Anderson, originally from Akron, Iowa and a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, by one of his college buddies from "Augie", while back in town from working for the State of Iowa Department of Labor, in Atlantic, Iowa.

"Hap" and "Dot" lived in the "Y-M" and "YWCA" off and on for much of their courtship and were wed in the summer of 1957 in Sioux Falls at First Lutheran Church. The couple initially settled in Iowa due to "Hap's" position with the state, where "Dot" soon became a buyer and department head in Sioux City at the Zales Jewelry Company. They worked in Iowa until "Hap" was able to land a position with the S.D. Dept. of Labor in Aberdeen. They lived and worked in Aberdeen until "Hap" received a transfer to come work in the State Office of South Dakota D.O.L. in Rapid City, where they were assigned until "Hap" was reassigned to return to Aberdeen in 1966, where they continued to live for the remainder of their lives, eventually greeting the arrival of their only son Joel into the world in 1969. Following Joel's birth, Dorothy did not work again until 1979, when she became an OPM (Office of Personnel Management) Administrator of the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) Test, which she enjoyed due to the opportunity to travel to the small community schools, throughout the Dakota Midland and the good times with co-workers.

Dorothy continued to share and devote much of her time in later years to numerous volunteer organizations that include Bethlehem Lutheran Church, throughout Joel's school activities, and at the former Dakota Midland Hospital.

Dorothy, or "Dot" as she was known to family and close friends, is survived by her only son, Maj. Joel Bork Anderson, U.S. Army (retired), of Fairbanks, Alaska, and one "grand-dog", Zygi, as well her her sister Isabelle Bork, Oakes, N.D., her brother, Melvin Bork (Dorothy), of Fargo, sister Marian Raub of Vermont, as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins from around the U.S. and Canada who are grateful for having had the chance to share in her warmth and fellowship.

Dorothy was preceded in death by husband, Lowell "Hap"; sister, Irene (Bork) Sanders; brother, Ervin F. Bork (Col. USAF); and nieces, Holly (Sanders) and Kay (Schindler).