Dorothy Amanda (Leese) Shove passed away Sept. 17, 2012, at North Valley Extended Care in Tonasket at the age of 105. She was born on Sept. 4, 1907, at the family homestead west of Wauconda, Wash., to Ranger and Emma Leese. She was the oldest of four girls and grew up in Aeneas Valley on her family’s ranches and at her grandparents’ Leese post office/home on Highway 20.
          After attending school in Aeneas Valley through the 8th grade, she set out to work her way through high school in both Omak and Tonasket. She graduated from Tonasket High School in 1926 where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Ellis, encouraged her to go to college and become a teacher. She attended Lewis and Clark Normal School in Lewiston, Idaho and graduated with an Idaho teaching certificate in 1928. She taught school in 1928-1930 for her future father-in-law at his logging camp near Twin Lakes, Idaho. During that time she met and fell in love with a young logger, Ira Shove, and they were married in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on March 24, 1930.
          Dorothy and Ira had four children and were married for 61 years before Ira passed away in 1991. During the Depression they had moved back to the Okanogan Valley in order to find work and to raise their family. She packed apples in the Fall and they both worked for the Hayden Brothers in the summer where she cooked for the haying crews. In 1937 they moved into Omak and in 1941 bought a little farm on Caudill Road north of Omak where they lived for the next 51 years.
          Dorothy loved her garden and putting up all the good things that were the bounty of that effort. She enjoyed making quilts and reading; but most of all, she loved being with kids: grandkids, great-grandkids, and she also babysat numerous neighbor children through her long life. For over 40 years she milked two cows morning and evening and loved those cows like they were her kids too. She cooked 1,000’s of extra meals for family and friends because she enjoyed having company and wanted to make sure that no one ever went away hungry. She loved day trips all over Okanogan County and especially enjoyed Aeneas Valley, Moses Meadows, and Lyman Lake, where she had grown up.
          She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Ira; sister, Jessie Zabreznik; sister, Hazel Schroeder; son, Ray Shove; daughter, Betty Taylor; and grandson, Tom Taylor.
          Survivors include her sister, Evelyn (Don) Cates of Mt. Vernon, Ore.; son, Jim (Emily) Shove of Omak; son, Del (Sallye) Shove of Pasco; grandson, Mike (Marilyn) Taylor of Omak; granddaughter, Penny (Mike) Hamblin of Spokane; granddaughter, Ann (Dave) Talbot of Riverside; grandson, Randy (Nan) Shove of Spokane; granddaughter, Janet (Stan) Shields of Ellensburg; grandson, Peter (Cassie) Shove of Everett; granddaughter, Cori (Aaron) Stothart of Bellingham; great- grandchildren, Kelli Taylor, Graig Taylor, Mandi Taylor, Wendy Talbot Christoph, Doug Talbot, Mathew Shields, Ethan Shields, Michael Shove, Justin Shove, Taylor Hamblin, Joshua Stothart, and a little girl Stothart to be born in January; great-great-grandchildren, Callie Christoph, Kinsey Christoph, Maddie Coates, Izzie Coates, and Jullianne Taylor.
          A celebration of life will be held in Dorothy’s honor at the Omak Elks Club on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, at 2 p.m.. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Okanogan County Historical Museum, P.O. Box 1129, Okanogan, Wa. 98840 in her honor.
          Precht-Harrison-Nearents Chapel and the Okanogan Co. Crematory are caring for the arrangements.