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Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter

Birth	:	17 Feb 1919 Dwight, Livingston County, Illinois, USA
Death	:	26 Apr 2000 Lombard, DuPage County, Illinois, USA
Burial	:	Ida Grove Cemetery, Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate	:	42.3560982, -95.4516983
Plot	:	576
Description	:	Dorothy Baxter Graveside services were June 3, 2000 for Dorothy Baxter, 81, of Lombard, Ill., formerly of Ida Grove, at Ida Grove Cemetery under the direction of Christensen-Ciha Funeral Home in Ida Grove. Mrs. Baxter was born Feb. 17 1919, in Dwight, Ill., the daughter of Harold and Jesse Lamb. At an early age, the family moved to Urbandale where she spent her formative years. Her three sisters and two brothers made her life a joy: Julia Luke, Elizabeth Hamilton and Robert Lamb from Iowa, Mary Brown from Maryland and William Lamb from Texas. After graduating from... Read More	Dorothy Baxter Graveside services were June 3, 2000 for Dorothy Baxter, 81, of Lombard, Ill., formerly of Ida Grove, at Ida Grove Cemetery under the direction of Christensen-Ciha Funeral Home in Ida Grove. Mrs. Baxter was born Feb. 17 1919, in Dwight, Ill., the daughter of Harold and Jesse Lamb. At an early age, the family moved to Urbandale where she spent her formative years. Her three sisters and two brothers made her life a joy: Julia Luke, Elizabeth Hamilton and Robert Lamb from Iowa, Mary Brown from Maryland and William Lamb from Texas. After graduating from the State College of Iowa in 1942, she worked in an Urbana, Ill., nursery school for underprivileged children. She also worked in Portland, Ore., managing a child care center for employees of the ship building industry. She married Stanley Baxter Oct. 28, 1944, in Denver, Colo. At the time of their marriage, Stanley was serving in the armed forces. For two years, she was with him on his tour of duty. After the war, the couple settled on a farm near Galva for 14 years. In 1960, the family moved to Storm Lake where he obtained his teaching degree. The family then moved to Dunlap where he taught high school science until 1968. After a few more years in Iowa, the family moved to Lom-bard, Ill. While in Lombard, she worked at the Helen Plum Library presenting story time for children for seven years. The couple settled at Beacon Hill retirement commu-nity after their four children, John, twins Dick and Becky and Laura, were grown. He died in 1994. She was also active in many community functions including Ruth Circle at First United Methodist Church. Survivors include six grandchildren, Barry and Beau Hartweg of Grapevine, Texas, Jenny and Amy Goldsmith of Carol Stream, Ill., and Adam and Aaron Baxter of Council Bluffs. A child during the depression, she managed to find beauty in the simplest of things. From the work that the family did together maintaining the dairy to the good-natured card games in the evening, family life was so much fun. The chapter about her father, Harold Durley Lamb, gives evidence of the things that shaped her future beliefs. "His six children were the joy of his life." We were too young to remember our grandfather, Harold, but from Mom's descriptions, she was much like him. This book contains the chapters that she was able to finish before her untimely and very unexpected death on April 26, 2000. She wrote the chapter about her time at Merrill Palmer just a few weeks before she died. The chapters are exactly as she wrote them. They are in her life's chronological order (rather than the order in which she wrote them). Pictures have been added to illustrate some of her stories. MY FATHER – HAROLD DURLEY LAMb My Father admired a humble person. To be great and humble was even better. He himself was a humble and great man. His work in the family dairy kept him at home. This was an advantage to the children as he was around to teach them games. Summertime found the yard full of neighbor children. Although he was working in the milk house he was watching them play. He'd show them games. Using a jack knife he taught us mumbledy peg. Then there was "Cricket", "Annie Annie Over" and "Red Rover, Red Rover". He showed us how to play marbles by drawing a circle in the dirt. Then he demonstrated holding the shooting marble and flipping it with the thumb. These were such good games for any number of children. Where he learned them I don't know. Some of them I've never encountered elsewhere after all these years. Evenings found us playing cards around the dining room table. Euchre was a favorite. I'm surprised that he knew so many card games as Grandma Lamb considered them sinful. She did approve of the game of "Flinch". That is still one of my favorites. During the mid-thirties we had a terrible drought and heat wave. Many days the temperature never went below 100 degrees. With no air conditioning and a house with no insulation, it was impossible to sleep in the upstairs bedrooms. They were like ovens. We'd spread blankets in the yard and try to sleep. With no clouds in the sky there was a brilliant display of stars. As we lay there looking up at them, Father told us their names. He'd point out Venus and the North Star and all the constellations. He explained the rotation of the Earth. He predicted that someday men would walk on the moon. Lindberg had flown across the ocean around that time and Father reasoned that since man had accomplished that they could also fly to the moon. Due to that terrible hot summer I learned about Father's knowledge of Astronomy. He'd had one course in it and his memory was amazing. Sheldon, Iowa was the town where Father spent some of his childhood. He spoke fondly of it. It was not without tragedy, however. His father died at a very young age leaving his mother with three small children to raise. Father often told how she cried every day. She felt lost and didn't know how to manage with the three little ones. Father assured her that he would always take care of her. When he attended college in Grinnell, Iowa she moved there and they lived in a house together. He attended Harvard Divinity school. While there he fell ill with Tuberculosis. As part of his recovery he was advised to live where he could be outdoors in fresh air. That was the reason he and mother chose to move to Keystone, South Dakota where they lived in a log cabin. How they did enjoy that life! He became the minister in the church. Their first child, Julia, was born there. Holding true to his promise to always care for his mother, be arranged for her to come to live with them. It seemed a perfect arrangement except that mother didn't like having Grandma Lamb there. The solution was for Grandma Lamb to go to Hennepin, Illinois to live with her sister Rose. From Keystone they moved to St. Onj, South Dakota where Bob was born. As was the lot of ministers, they moved often. Two years was the usual stay in one church. He served churches in Chatom and Belpry, Ohio. That is when Elizabeth came along. I was born in Dwight, Illinois. He did well in all these churches and his career as a minister was flourishing. He loved it when mother could accompany him on house calls. Mother could hire help in the home so she had freedom to go calling with him. Again tragedy struck. It was during the terrible flu epidemic of 1918. Father had a severe case of the flu. It damaged his speech and caused him to sleep a lot. Delivering a sermon was hard due to his speech problems. Preparing a sermon was almost impossible as he would fall asleep as soon as he'd sit down. He felt he had to give up the ministry. What a terrible blow for him. Their next and final move was to Urbandale, Iowa where they bought a house on 5 acres of land. Here they lived well making use of all the produce they could grow. They raised a huge vegetable garden with plenty of sweet corn. They filled the chicken house with chickens which provided eggs and meat. They sold fruit from the apple, plum and peach orchards. When they were able to get a few cows in the barn they began selling milk. Eventually they were in the dairy business delivering milk to families in both Urbandale and Des Moines. The big dairies were competition with their pasteurized and homogenized milk. Father promoted his milk as tasting better raw and having cream that rose to the top of the bottle. Father certainly had the ability to adjust to change and make the best of it. I never heard him complain. He was not a swearing man. He did get annoyed with one cow when she stuck her foot in the pail just as he finished milking her. He said, "Oh Gee Whiz". The swear words I know I didn't learn from him. Father was dependable and faithful in his milk deliveries. Collecting was another matter. He would rather give the milk away than ask for payment. I don't know how well he kept accounts. Most people paid by putting the money in the empty return bottles. Mother seemed to know who owed. Sometimes she'd send me to collect. I had no problem. His children were his pride and joy. What a beaming man he was when he became the father of twins. He had a big part in naming them William Winfield and Mary Ella. The event inspired him to write one of the many poems he wrote. This one started "The tenth of May on Mother's day two little Lambs came to town". Mother was overwhelmed by having two babies. It took a long time for her to recover physically. She stayed upstairs for weeks it seemed. She didn't even come down for meals. Aunt Blanche came to help. She was wonderful. I remember her going up and down stairs many times a day waiting on mother. She must have done all the cooking for the rest of us as well. She loved the babies, especially Mary. There was talk of her taking Mary home with her. She had no children at the time and Mother thought she had too many. When Julia overheard this conversation she ran screaming to father that mother was giving Mary to Aunt Blanche. I don't know how he handled that crisis, but it was resolved quickly. No one was going to give his child away. I must tell about another caring thing that father did for us. Whenever any of us girls attended a late night school activity or worked late, he'd get out in all kinds of weather, trod down to the streetcar stop and walk us home. I appreciated this as it was scary walking home in the dark. There was a culvert at the bottom of the hill and I feared something horrible was hiding there and would jump out at me. As we grew up and left home one by one he kept in touch through letters. I think it was his idea to have a family round robin. It is still in circulation and getting better all the time as the next generation has become involved. It keeps the family close. In later years he suffered with Parkinson's disease. This did further damage to his speech. He shuffled as he walked. His hands shook. Worse was the effect it had on his facial muscles. They seemed frozen in one expression. It gave him a blank stare. He could not smile. His beautiful beaming smile was gone. He left this world on a cold March day when he was 66 years old. He collapsed from a brain tumor and died in a few days. He was a great and humble man and I loved him. Dorothy Lamb Baxter Nov. 1998

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter's memorial?
Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter's memorial is located at: Ida Grove Cemetery, Ida Grove, Ida County, USA.
When did Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter death?
Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter death on 26 Apr 2000 in Lombard, DuPage County, Illinois, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Dorothy Stewart Lamb Baxter's memorial?
Latitude: 42.3560982
Longitude: -95.4516983

Family Members:

Parent

Spouse

Stanley James Baxter

(1921 - 1994)

Siblings

Julia W. Lamb Allen

(1912 - 1998)

Mary L Brown

(1925 - 2008)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Ida Grove Cemetery
Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3560982, -95.4516983

2. Settlers Cemetery
Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3544980, -95.4838380

3. Ida Grove Catholic Cemetery
Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3502998, -95.4966965

4. Hayes Chapel Cemetery
Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2723897, -95.4215386

5. Hayes Township Cemetery
Arthur, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2943993, -95.3427963

6. Mount Hope Cemetery
Battle Creek, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3210983, -95.6091995

7. Grant Township Cemetery
Ida Grove, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2242012, -95.4569016

8. Battle Center Cemetery
Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4290000, -95.6136000

9. Our Lady of Good Counsel Cemetery
Holstein, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4752998, -95.5625000

10. Galva Township Cemetery
Galva, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5031013, -95.4664001

11. Galva Township Cemetery East
Galva, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5031110, -95.4083200

12. Saint Martins Catholic Cemetery
Odebolt, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2985573, -95.2481842

13. Odebolt Cemetery
Odebolt, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2985992, -95.2469025

14. Cook Center Cemetery
Schaller, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4432983, -95.2649994

15. Saint Johns Lutheran Cemetery
Galva, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5187700, -95.4183300

16. Richland Cemetery
Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3544006, -95.2238998

17. Holstein Cemetery
Holstein, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5119019, -95.5436020

18. Bethel Cemetery
Kiron, Crawford County, USA
Coordinate: 42.2192001, -95.3043976

19. Schaller Cemetery
Schaller, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5046000, -95.3117600

20. Saint Josephs Catholic Church Cemetery
Schaller, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.5035000, -95.3095000

21. Otter Creek Cemetery
Otter Creek Township, Crawford County, USA
Coordinate: 42.1749180, -95.4310208

22. Norwegian Cemetery
Holstein, Ida County, USA
Coordinate: 42.4906006, -95.6231003

23. Emmanuel Cemetery
Cook Township, Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3993988, -95.2063980

24. Salem Reform Cemetery
Sac County, USA
Coordinate: 42.3555984, -95.1866989