Dorothy’s adolescent years began with the stock market “crash” on October 24, 1929 a few months before her ninth birthday. The Great Depression would have provided a stressful life for a young girl when many were concerned about finding  a job, the next meal and not losing their house. She lived through the usual childhood diseases of mumps, measles and the whooping cough.

She graduated the sixth grade from Russell Elementary in 1931. She went to Barton Academy for one year and then Murphy High School.

1934, Barton Academy, 7th Grade

At age 11, during the great depression, her grandfather William Schieffelin died (October 1932).  Two years later her grandmother Alice Schieffelin died (October 1934).

After Barton Academy, she attended Murphy High School and graduated in 1937. At Murphy, she was in the National Honor Society and served as the bookkeeper. She was also the fastest typist in her senior class.

In the photo clip below from Murphy’s 1937 Yearbook is her photo and that she was in the General Science Club and Locker Monitor.