Obituary of Dorothy Sistrom

Dorothy SistromA funeral Mass will be held later for Dorothy E. Sistrom of Eugene, who died March 15 of mesothelioma at age 81. Inurnment will be at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Eugene.She was born June 23, 1929, in Tucson, Ariz., to Harry and Gertrude Pfannenstiel Ellis. She married William Robert Sistrom on June 26, 1952, in Tucson. He died in 1993.She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a community activist.Survivors include three sons, Christopher of Gainesville, Fla., Peter of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Michael of Durham, N.C.; a daughter, Anne Sistrom Erwin of Beaverton; a sister, Kay Magee of McCall, Idaho; and six grandchildren.Arrangements by Musgrove Family Mortuary in Eugene.Remembrances to St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County for FOOD for Lane County.Dorothy E. Sistrom, a tireless advocate for social justice, avid naturalist and gardener, resident of Eugene-Springfield for nearly 50 years, and parishioner of St. Thomas More - Newman Center, passed away on March 15, 2011 from mesothelioma. Dorothy was born June 23, 1929 and raised in Tucson, Arizona. After graduating summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biology from the University of Arizona, she did graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley. There, she met William, her husband of 41 years, a fellow microbiology graduate student. They married in 1952 and later moved to Eugene in 1963. While Bill taught at the University of Oregon, Dorothy raised their children, worked in Bill's lab, and threw herself into many social causes and projects from supporting the United Farm Workers and protesting the Vietnam War in the 1960s, to Democratic Party politics in the 1970s, to nuclear disarmament in the 1980s, to hunger and homelessness and ecumenical organizing in the 1990s, and most recently combating global climate change. She co-founded the Lane County Food Bank and two family soup kitchens. She helped lead local chapters of Church Women United and Bread for the World. She also was an active member of Clergy and Laity Concerned, Ecumenical Ministries of Eugene, St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, among others. She was an award-winning dried flower arranger, a devotee of classical music, and an enthusiastic reader of colonial and Revolutionary era history. Dorothy loved travel and went on many Elderhostel tours, but she truly loved Oregon and her favorite places included Hendricks Park, Neptune State Park near Yachats, and her own garden, which she crammed with native ferns, rhododendrons, fruit trees, berry canes, ornamental grasses, and flowering perennials. While out and about, Dorothy was always prepared to stop to pluck promising dried weeds or scoop up litter. Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. William Robert Sistrom, and is survived by her sister Katherine Magee, of McCall, Idaho, and her four children: Dr. Chris Sistrom, a radiologist in Gainesville, Florida, his son Peter G. Sistrom, his wife, Brenda; Peter A. Sistrom, a lawyer in Brooklyn, New York, his wife, Leanne Burney, their sons William and Brant; Anne S. Erwin, principal of North International High School, her husband Thomas, their children Kathryn, Robert, and Kerry Anne; and Dr. Michael Sistrom, a history professor in Durham, North Carolina, and his wife Mig. Her family will strive to live up to Dorothy's advice and admonitions to do their best for themselves and our world. She did her utmost to be, in the words of St. Francis, an instrument of the Lord's peace. Her funeral mass will be held at St. Thomas More-Newman Center on April 9th, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Musgrove Family Mortuary is handling the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County or Food for Lane County.