Dorothy Donohoe

Dorothy "Dottie/Dot" Donohoe, 102, passed away peacefully in her sleep at Morningstar at Northridge Memory Care in Albuquerque, NM, on January 17, 2026.

Dorothy, the daughter of Harry and Annie Binder, grew up during the depression as an only child in Wilmington, Delaware, and was very close to her numerous cousins, aunts, and uncles who lived nearby. As a young girl, she loved sports and history, but her biggest passion was singing. She sang in her church choir, various school programs, and on a weekly radio program called "Aunt Ellen's Candlelight Hour".

She married her high school sweetheart, Robert Langley Barnes, in 1943, just before he was drafted into the Army during WWII. He was killed in action nineteen months later near the border between France and Belgium.

As a grieving young widow, Dorothy wanted to visit Robert's grave in France to prove to herself he was really gone. She decided to enlist in the Women's Army Corps (WACs) to help the war effort and "win this war on my own". She had to wait until her 21st birthday because her father refused to give parental consent. With hard work and determination, Dorothy was quickly promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant. Her father ended up being quite proud of her.

While stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany and working as the assistant to the General in charge of the Occupation Army, Dorothy met Robert Wesley Donohoe at an enlisted men's club when he asked her to dance. When she refused, he noted that she outranked him and replied, "If those extra stripes bother you, Sarge, I'll lend you my jacket." She decided to show this "jerk" how to dance, and the rest is history.

Bob and Dorothy got married in Wiesbaden in 1947, then sailed back to the United States the next year. Dorothy was honorably discharged from the military that same year, while Bob reenlisted. They bought a 25-foot trailer and lived in Delaware, New Jersey, Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Dorothy gave birth to their first two children, Sherry and Rob, on military bases during this time. After the kids were born, they lived for a while on a banana plantation in Puerto Rico where they rented a small shack with no glass in the windows. Dorothy told the story, "It rained every day, and the rain always came in through the windows, but that was OK because it just ran out through the cracks in the rough wooden floor. The floor was so rough that I couldn't let Rob play on it, so we hung him from a sling and I gave him a push every now and then to keep him entertained". She also said that their garbage disposal was a couple of pigs that lived across the road, and that the kids in the neighborhood considered watching the Donohoe's their entertainment.

Bob and Dorothy moved to Albuquerque in 1957. Jeff was born shortly after the move, while Mary arrived seven years later. Dorothy-known for her sharp wit-quipped that Mary was a "do-it-yourself grandchild".

They joined St. Luke Lutheran Church the Sunday after they arrived in Albuquerque and were members of their beloved choir for 53 years. Dorothy was an active volunteer with the church, organizing youth groups, setting up bingo games for nursing homes, and crocheting blankets for infants and older adults. She and her husband loved to go dancing at the Coronado Club at Kirtland AFB, and on warm summer days she would take the neighborhood kids to swim in the club's pools, while Bob would stop by at lunchtime to take a few dives off the springboard.

In 1959 they started what would become a lifelong project, the building of a log cabin on Grass Mountain in the Pecos high country. Various neighbors and members of the church came up to help. What began with digging a foundation in the rocky soil and stripping the bark from aspen logs, transitioned over the years into replacing the pot belly stove with a big stone fireplace, and modernizing her tiny kitchen. Dorothy never complained about having an outhouse, because it reminded her of the outdoor toilet at the house where she grew up. The cabin is still used and appreciated by family and friends to this day! For the past few years, Dorothy asked about the cabin every time she saw any of her kids.

After Dorothy survived breast cancer and a radical mastectomy in 1969, she and Bob began traveling the world, covering six continents, fifty countries, and all the rest of states they had missed when they were first married. Dorothy commemorated many of their trips with funny narrative poems which she loved to share with their travel companions.

Dorothy's personal passions included singing, bowling, volleyball, sewing, crocheting, bridge, beating everybody at Scrabble, and playing her electric piano. While she was known for her incredible organizational skills, she would be the first to admit repeated failures at trying to apply them to her husband's infamously jam-packed garage. Between having so many hobbies and being the neighborhood handy man, there were odd tools that she couldn't even name hanging all over the place.

Bob and Dorothy spent 58 happy years together in Albuquerque, before Bob's sudden death in 2015. Dorothy then moved to Sandia Vista Senior Living where she lived for over nine years. She continued to sing in local groups and was admired for her encyclopedic knowledge of numerous songs and their lyrics. ("Name That Tune" was one of her favorite game shows!)

Dorothy celebrated her 100th birthday with an extended family party, and her 101st birthday at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial with a live WWII band. She was warmly greeted by many of the younger veterans who lined up to shake her hand and take photos. As she and her husband had done in years past, Dorothy closed down the band, dancing until the last song.

For the last year of her life, Dorothy was moved to memory care and put under hospice care. Her son Jeff and his significant other, Melinda, were able to take her to many performances of the Albuquerque Concert Band. She loved to sing along, but she had hung up her dancing shoes by then.

Dorothy is preceded in death by both of her husbands. She is survived by her children Sherry (Mike) Frese, Rob Donohoe (Michael Coleman), Jeff Donohoe (Melinda Baca), Mary (Tim) Haley, three grandchildren Matthew (Jill) Frese, Brad (Laura) Frese, and Dustin (Kristen) Donohoe, and six great grandchildren, the youngest born 100 years and 8 months after her birth.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on February 7th at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Menaul Blvd. NE. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Luke Lutheran Church.