Obituary of Dorothy Evangeline (Harris) Cheevers

Dorothy Evangeline (Harris) Cheevers, born on August 27, 1942 in Spencer, Iowa, departed this life at Colonial Springs Nursing Home in Buffalo, Missouri on Monday, January 31, 2022. 

Dorothy was the 2^nd of 12 children born to Leonard Frank and Dorothy Evangeline (Gillpatrick) Harris.  Being part of a horse racing family, she attended several different schools throughout her childhood but still managed to graduate 3^rd in her class from Jefferson High School in Jefferson, South Dakota. While living with her Grandmother Harris and working for Spencer Dairy in Spencer, Iowa she met and married Gary Ray Cheevers of Sioux Rapids, Iowa on May 21, 1962.  Gary was the love of her life.  They were married 53 years before his passing on December 2, 2015.  To their marriage John & Penny were born.  She often said, “We may not have agreed on everything but the one thing we did agree on was that our children would come first”.  She and Gary moved 17 times the first 2 years they were married due to Gary working in construction but bought their first home in Tunas, Missouri. They built on and remodeled it themselves and continued to live there for 45 years. When John and Penny had started school, Dorothy was bored and needed money for fabric to make their clothes, so she went to work for Dawson Metal Products. She continued to work there through various name changes and retired as the Senior Engineering Clerk of Modine Manufacturing after 35 years and 8 months.

She loved her grandchildren and took them on many adventures.  They still laugh about going to Eagle Days at Lake of The Ozarks with extra-large cups of diet coke and her healthy bran cookies. 

Dorothy enjoyed many hobbies. She loved sewing, gardening, feeding the birds, and building things. There wasn’t a construction project she wouldn’t tackle.

Most importantly, Dorothy was saved and baptized at the Macks Creek Baptist Church in her mid-twenties. In her later years she attended Hopewell Freewill Baptist Church in Tunas, Missouri with her daughter Penny. Teaching her children about the Lord and memorization of John 3:16 while they were young was a priority. 

She was preceded in death by her mother and father; mother-in-law and father-in-law Dutch and Pearl Cheevers; sisters Nora Neely and Sandra Rettelle; sisters-in-law Sue Harris and Kelly Meusburger; brothers-in-law Albert Walton, Dale Neely, Jerry Rettelle, Wendall Urban, and Digger Cheevers; and her nephews Conrad Cheevers and Teddy Urban.

She leaves behind her son John Cheevers and wife Lori of St Clair, Missouri; her daughter Penny Morgans and husband Steve of Buffalo, Missouri; step-son Rob Rassler and wife Penny of Roach, Missouri; grandchildren Kacie Covert and husband Chris, Lacie Holland and husband Jason, Heidi Rehwaldt and husband Eric, Dillon Stoner, Clayton Morgans and wife Emily, Jennifer Zimmerman, Joshua Cheevers, and Dr. Jessica Underhill and husband Austin; great-grandchildren include Emerson, Fylnee, Delaney, Katie, Alyssa, Alexx, Nora, Avery, Ruthie, Lily, Windsor, Aksel, Cannon, Riley, Sullivan, James, and Ophelia. She is also survived by her sisters Sally Muckey and Jola Carnes and huband Billy; brothers Leonard Harris, Tom Harris and wife Midge, Charlie Harris and wife Janet, Davy Harris and wife Debbie, Danny Harris and wife Cindy, and Roy Harris and wife Denise; 32 nieces and nephews; and 81 great nieces and nephews. She was loved by all.

Funeral Services will be held Sunday, February 6, 2022 at 2:00 pm at Hopewell Freewill Baptist Church in Tunas, Missouri. The family will welcome friends for visitation from 1:00 – 2:00 pm prior to services at the church.

Inurnment will be at Macks Creek Cemetery in Macks Creek, Missouri.

Memorial donations are suggested to Colonial Springs Nursing Home in Buffalo, Missouri.