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07/07/2012 - Winifred A. (Winnie) Dutrow
Memorial services for Winifred A. (Winnie) Dutrow, age 94, will be Saturday, July 7, 2012 at 11:00 AM at Chamberlain Chapel in Chadron with Dr. Russ Seger officiating.
Inurnment will be at Greenwood Cemetery in Chadron.
Mrs. Dutrow passed away on December 12, 2011 in Arizona.
Winifred Alberta Lafferty was born October 6, 1917 on a farm in Red Willow County, Nebraska to Myrtle Marie Sweet and Fred Lafferty. She was the oldest of eight children (Maurice, Darlene, Betty, Gladys, Elnora, Robert and Carl). After attending a one-room school to which she was driven by a team of horses, she graduated high school in 1936 and began doing housework around McCook, NE. She often cared for newborn infants after arrival home from the hospital. Her family lost their farm during the Depression in 1938 and moved to Marion, NE. In 1943, she went to work in the Part’s Department at Hormel Chevrolet in McCook, NE and it was there that she met her husband, Harry Dutrow, who was service manager at the time. General Motors had granted Harry a Chevrolet franchise in Arnold, NE and in 1945 she moved to work in North Platte, NE, closer to Arnold.
Harry and Winifred were married in Arnold, on June 22, 1947, during a torrential rainstorm that obliterated bridges and kept her parents from attending the wedding. Daughters Mary Lou (Lecher) and Barbara (Dutrow) were born in Arnold. They remained in Arnold until 1961 when they bought a GM dealership, Dutrow Chevrolet, in Chadron, NE where they were proud to sell all five lines of GM cars. Winifred worked at the dealership and was an exceptional bookkeeper - always balancing her books on time and to the penny - often winning GM awards. In their few spare hours, they’d pack up the kids and drive to Lake McConaughy to fish for walleye and let the kids water ski. Despite the fact that Winnie grew up on a dry-windy hill and never learned to swim, she could spend hours in the boat fishing and then cook an exquisite meal of fresh fish.
They owned and operated Dutrow Chevrolet Company in Chadron from 1962 - 1972. In 1972, Harry retired from business due to health and they spent more time in Phoenix, AZ where they moved full time in 1978. Harry passed away in 1983 but Winnie remained in Phoenix until her death. She kept busy sewing, cooking the kids’ and grandkids’ favorite foods, making cookies each month for the Ronald McDonald House, enjoying coffees and wine with the neighbors, tending to her citrus trees and flowers, doing hand-work, quilting, researching genealogy and traveling. During those years, she made many trips to visit relatives across the U.S. and to as far away as Germany. She passed away peacefully with her daughters at her side on December 12, 2011.
Immediate Survivors:
Daughters: Mary Lou Lecher (Curtis) of Chadron, NE; Barbara Dutrow (Darrell Henry) of Baton Rouge, LA.
Sister: Gladys Smalberger of Portland, OR.
Brother: Carl Lafferty of Phoenix, AZ.
Brother-in-law: Ed Tucker of Casper, WY.
Step Sister: Doris Crosley of Arapahoe, NE.
Grandchildren: Amber Oplinger (Travis) & Clint Lecher.
Great-Grandchildren: Tommie and Gavin Oplinger
Many adoring cousins, nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews; and friends.
She was a loving, generous, giving, kind mother and is dearly missed by her family and many friends who she touched deeply.
A memorial has been established for the Desert Botanical Gardens, 1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, AZ 85003. She loved the flowers and the desert beauty.
Online condolences can be made at www.chamberlainchapel.com
Chamberlain Chapel of Chadron is in charge of arrangements.
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