Dorothy Joyce Lauer

Dorothy Joyce Lauer, nee Lamb, 86, of Waukee, passed away Monday, November 7, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where she worked as an admitting clerk for 23 years before retiring in 2002. After breaking a hip in a fall at home September 19, Dorothy was in and out of the hospital three times over the next 47 days, before being readmitted with heart and lung issues the day before her death.

Dorothy is survived by her sister, Katheryn Barter, of West Rutland, Vermont; son Randy and his wife Debbie, of West Des Moines; son Alan and his wife Patti, of Dayton, Minnesota; daughter Penny Ackerson of Eagle Grove; son John Lauer and his wife Jolene, of Waukee, along with ten grandchildren and four grandsons-in-law; as well as six great-granddaughters and two great-grandsons, with two more great-grandsons in the offing, this December and next January.

Dorothy died after the passing of her parents, Charlie and Marion Frances Olinger Lamb, originally of Creston; her longtime and beloved companion, Forest R. Clarke, a.k.a. Sarge, of Des Moines; a son-in-law, Steve Ackerson, of Eagle Grove; a great-grandson, Charlie David Torres, of Eagle Grove; and her ex-husband Rollin Lauer, also of Eagle Grove.

Dorothy Joyce Lamb was born February 11, 1936, in rural Union County, Iowa. The epitome of a farm girl, Dorothy, her older sister Katheryn, and her folks lived on various farmsteads in Union County over the years. However, in an attempt to relieve Dorothy’s chronic lung problems, her family packed up a small two-wheeled green trailer, hooked it to their car, and moved to Cortaro, Arizona, circa 1946. Dorothy and her family returned to Union County two years later. Thereafter, Dorothy underwent surgery for bronchiectasis at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, which mitigated her condition but never cured it.

Dorothy married Rollin Eugene Lauer on July 16, 1952 at the Methodist Church in Orient, Iowa. Two weeks later Rollin shipped out to serve his country in the Korean conflict. In the meantime, Dorothy lived with her folks and applied herself to her studies, graduating from Orient High School in 1954, the same year Rollin’s military service ended.

Over the years after Dorothy’s high school graduation and Rollin’s discharge from the army, the couple farmed in rural Creston and Afton, and Dorothy gave birth to Randy (1955), Alan (1957), Penny (1959) and John (1961). In 1962, the family left southern Iowa, renting a 365-acre farm southwest of Waukee. For a time, besides being a farm wife and a mother of four, Dorothy worked as a clerk for the local Farmer’s Co-op and sold Avon products. In 1967, Rollin and Dorothy reluctantly left farming and moved to Indianola, with plans to buy the local John Deere implement, but that deal fell through. Casting about for jobs, Dorothy and Rollin decided to buy and operate a 12-unit motel called the Sandman in Eagle Grove (1969 to 1977), before divorcing in 1978. Dorothy returned to Waukee in July of 1977, where she lived the rest of her life.


A visitation is scheduled for 1 o’clock on Monday, November 14, at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, Iowa 50265. Dorothy’s celebration of life will follow at 2 o’clock that day at the same location.

A reception will be held at 4 o’clock in the community room at Brick Towne at Prairie Crossing, 731 NE Venture Drive, in Waukee.

Inurnment of her cremains will be at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines, alongside her beloved companion Sarge, at a date yet to be determined.

All memorial contributions should be directed to the family.

Print