Dorothy Ann Anderson

Hastings resident Dorothy Ann Anderson, 100, passed away Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at The Heritage at College View, Hastings, NE. 

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, September 27, at First United Methodist Church in Hastings with Rev. Lance Clay officiating. Private family burial will be at Blue Valley Cemetery in Ayr. Visitation will be 1-7 p.m. with the family present 5-7 p.m. Thursday, September 26, at the funeral home, and one hour before the service at the church. Memorials may be given to Blue Valley Cemetery or First United Methodist Church of Hastings, NE. The service will be live-streamed on Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home’s website. To view the service, go to Dorothy’s obituary and click the play button shown towards the bottom of the page. 

Dorothy was born February 1, 1924, in Glenvil, NE to Willard and Martha Kissinger. Dorothy was an only child. Dorothy grew up during the roaring 20’s and the great depression and graduated from Glenvil High School in 1941. Four months after graduation she married her lifelong partner of 69 years, Merle L. Anderson.

Four months after their wedding on August 9, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and Merle enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Dorothy went to Chicago after Merle’s basic training and worked at Montgomery Wards and the Naval Department at Navy Pier. They also spent time in Memphis, TN, and finally in California, where Merle shipped out during the war. 

Following the war, they moved back to Ayr, NE, and started farming. Dorothy and Merle had three sons, Richard, Alan, and Scott. Dorothy was a homemaker and spent almost each and every day cooking meals for hired men who worked on the farm. She maintained a busy schedule cooking, loading seed corn, chasing cattle, and being a housewife and a wonderful mother. 

In 1969, they moved from the farm while Merle pursued a real estate profession and Dorothy started a Merle Norman Cosmetics Store, which she was owner/operator. She loved the involvement and interaction of all the people she came in contact with.

Merle passed away in 2010 and Dorothy moved from her house to The Regency and finally into The Heritage at College View. She will be remembered by not only her family and friends, but by almost anyone she came into contact with. She once said that her goal was to do something nice for someone every day. Her influence and effect on people can be testified by the fact that she received over 130 cards on her 100th birthday. She truly was loved and respected by so many people and many generations. 

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents and husband. She is survived by her three sons and wives, Richard (Connie) Anderson, Alan (Mary Kay) Anderson, and Scott (Kristy) Anderson; grandchildren, Michael (Kristen) Anderson, Kim (Shawn) Wiseman, Kelly (Justin) Reineke, Corey (Becky) Anderson, Cara (Marc) Skradski, Hannah (Drew) Sandoz, Jordan Anderson; and 15 great-grandchildren, Nathan Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson, Emily Anderson, Gracie Anderson, Jenson Anderson, Aspen Anderson, Morgan Wiseman, Logan Wiseman, Corbin Wiseman, Brendan Reineke, Dylan Reineke, Maxx Skradski, Madisyn Skradski, Brooks Skradski, and Henry Sandoz.