Dorothy McDowell

Obituary of Dorothy Jean McDowell

Dorothy Jean Marlatt McDowell, a retired Charge Nurse at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda MD, slipped away from life on this earth into her next life on July 12, 2014, at 87. Dorothy was born June 24, 1927 in Seattle, and was the youngest daughter of John Wesley & Maude May Marlatt, the founders of Mrs. Marlatt's Bakery in the University District of Seattle. She had two siblings: Gillman Stewart Marlatt of Seattle, WA and Rancho Mirage, CA, and Virginia Nolph Hodgson of Eugene, OR. She earned her nursing degree at Washington State University in 1950. While a student nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA, she met her future husband, Dr. John Robert ("Bob") McDowell, DVM, who was one of her patients. She often joked that she met her husband in bed. She and Bob were married in 1950, in the University Temple United Methodist Church in the University District of Seattle. Her father and mother were founding members of the Temple and donated one of the twelve stained glass windows that graced the Sanctuary. Starting in the 1960s Dorothy began a life-long study into the religious and spiritual beliefs of the world's cultures. Dorothy took certain aspects of the many cultures' religions she studied, and incorporated these diverse concepts and teachings into her own unique belief system. She was an avid reader, and could often be found buried in books. In 1973, Dorothy launched her travels around the globe with a trip with her husband, Bob, to Moscow and Leningrad in what was then the USSR. Over the years she visited over 35 countries. including multiple trips to Great Britain, France, Turkey, Mexico, and Egypt. She explored almost every continent, often studying the spiritual histories and beliefs of each culture. In 1986, after Bob retired from the FDA, they moved to Sana'a, North Yemen for nearly a year, where he was responsible for developing a poultry program under the auspices of U.S. Aid. They spent many happy times in Sana'a, exploring the markets, searching out antiquities and enjoying the vibrancy and rhythms of the city. She is survived by her older sister, Virginia Marlatt (Nolph) Hodgson of Eugene, OR, daughters Marla McDowell of Silver Spring, MD, Johanna Isaacs and her husband, Howard Isaacs of Columbia, MD, and three grandchildren of her eldest daughter, Marla: Shawn Bannon-Winthrop and his spouse Tony Winthrop; Aaron Bannon, and his wife, Christine Nation-Bannon; and Jason Bannon, his fiancee, Laura Downey; as well as Jason's son, Tristan Bannon. A memorial for family and friends will be held at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Kensington, MD on Saturday, July 19th at 11:00 AM. A second memorial will be held on August 2 at the Towson Universal Unitarian Church in Lutherville, MD, where Dorothy was a member in her last few years of life. In late September, her ashes, along with those of her beloved husband, will be returned to Seattle and laid to rest with her parents in the Book of Life (the Ossuary) at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Bellevue, WA.
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