TOPSHAM — Dorothy Bonney Kavasch passed away peacefully on August 15, 2012 in Brunswick Maine. She was in her 98th year, and as anyone who knew Dorothy will be glad to hear, she was all Dorothy until the end, letting go of only a smidgeon of her agility in recent months.

She was predeceased by her husband Rev. John A Kavasch, with whom she shared a marriage of 49 years until his death in 1990.

She is survived by her children Helene (Bill) of South Harpswell, ME; Jack of So.Lake Tahoe, CA; and Alan (Judy) of Huntington, NY, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In 1994 Dorothy chose to move to Maine and selected The Highlands of Topsham to be her home for her later years. The “family” of friends she made here brought to her a new variety of life experiences, and she talked on about the freedom to do as she pleased and the splendid interactions with other people which made this chapter of her life one of her most enjoyable. Family, friends, opportunities for learning, and living in Maine, which had always been an important part of her life, were all here.

Born Dorothy Rapalje Bonney in 1914, she moved some 12 times before entering high school in Verona, NJ. There she graduated at age 15 and was accepted to Cornell University, where her father had attended. Fortunately, she recalled, in retrospect, when she arrived to matriculate at Cornell, they thought she was too immature and sent her home for another year. She graduated and returned to Verona, where she met and married John and where three children were born. He was pastor of a small but growing congregation, Calvary Lutheran Church, and the members of the congregation there treated all the Kavasch family as part of their own families.

A call came from St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Huntington Station, NY, and the family moved there in 1954 where John served until his semiretirement in 1979. Dorothy found enrichment from substitute teaching and eventually enrolled in a Master’s Degree program at C. W. Post College and earned her MS in Library Science. This enabled her to build a professional career at both SUNY Farmingdale, NY and later at SUNY Stony Brook, NY. She fondly recalled serving on the Middle States Association, a professional organization for accrediting colleges. She worked on a committee chaired by the Surrogate Mayor of New York City, John Theobald, and approved accreditation for many secondary educational institutions far and wide, as far away as Puerto Rico.

But, alas, she wore two hats – her professional career in education and yet always the wife of the Pastor. She was always active in the many social organizations in churches where her husband was the minister.

Dorothy had a deep interest in history of all sorts but was particularly captivated by the history of the Civil War. In addition she had done research and kept family records, assisted by other members of her extended family, including Christine Bonney Huppe, her neice. There are detailed historical documents tracing her lineage back through many prominent families of the Dutchess County, NY region, including the families Bonney, Luyster, Rapalje, West, Van Voorhis, Ripking. There is also a reproduction of a painting of “The Rapalje Children” (Dorothy’s middle name) from the New York Historical Society collection, depicting the first non-native children born in Manhattan, NY.

Funeral arrangements are private. There will be a gathering of family and friends to honor and bid farewell to Dorothy at The Highlands in Topsham, ME at 3:45PM on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. Arrangements are in care of the Brackett Funeral Home, Brunswick. Condolences can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com.