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- GAY SCHELL DORROH Gay Schell Dorroh, 86, widow of Ralph Edgar Dorroh, mother of Mark Lee Dorroh and the late Shelby Kay Dorroh, died Friday, July 11, 2008, following a long period of declining health. She was a veteran of World War II, joining the US Women's Army Auxiliary Corps shortly after her 21st birthday in 1943. After being accepted in Officer's Candidate School, she was commissioned as a lieutenant. Her final assignment prior to mustering out in 1946 was command of a detachment of 300 nurses' aides at the Fort Butner, Kentucky base hospital. Following her separation from the Army, Mrs. Dorroh, nee Schell, attended the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia Campus. There she met, while engaged in postgraduate studies, her future husband, Ralph. She graduated with honors; she and Ralph wed in 1948. Son Mark was born in 1951 and daughter Shelby Kay in 1956. Shelby Kay was born mentally retarded, leading Gay and Ralph to the founding and chartering of the Kenton-Campbell County (Kentucky) Association for Retarded Citizens in 1961. They served on the board of the local association and Ralph went on to serve, with Gay's assistance, as a board member and president of the Kentucky Association for Retarded Citizens. They were instrumental in lobbying for state legislation which for the first time mandated the enrollment of retarded children in Kentucky public schools. Mrs. Dorroh worked for many years as office manager for the Covington, Kentucky branch of Turner Advertising, Inc. She later worked as a freelance tax accountant, retiring after Ralph's death in 1982. Her community service in South Florida included membership in the Palm Beach County Republican Women's Association, tutoring adults in reading skills and working as a pink-shirt volunteer at the local Planned Parenthood clinic. In that volunteer job, she helped clients navigate their way through the crowds of anti-choice protesters who gathered at the clinic for the purpose of harassing scared, pregnant women. Mrs. Dorroh is survived by her son Mark, a professional writer and his wife, Donna, an attorney in Richmond, Virginia, her sister, Janice Pyle of Naples, Florida, nieces, Cheryl and Barbara, her brother-in-law, James Dorroh and wife, Jeanette of Hernando, Mississippi, nieces, Sharla and Nancy and her devoted friend Ron Seed. A memorial service will be held at 7:00 pm the evening of Friday, July 18 at the Dorsey-E. Earl Smith Memory Gardens at 3041 Kirk Road, Lake Worth. A wake will follow at Mrs. Dorroh's residence. In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Dorroh requests donations in her name be sent to Planned Parenthood.
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Published in The Palm Beach Post on Jul. 17, 2008.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/palmbeachpost/obituary.aspx?n=gay-schell-dorroh&pid=113525564
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1922 - 2008 (86 years)
