Dorothy Griswold Gayer
Marriages
John Harrison Gayer - August 22, 1942
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - April 26, 2013
Dorothy Griswold Gayer passed away quietly May 23, 2013, at the Heritage Club Denver.
She was born Aug. 21, 1922, in Gordon, Neb. She moved to Lincoln, Neb., when her father became governor in 1941. Dorothy attended Stevens College in Missouri, Radcliff College in Cambridge, Mass., and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1942. She met John Harrison Gayer at NU and was married Aug. 22, 1942.
Dorothy lived in nine states and two European countries, raising her children in Berlin and Geneva. She and John moved to Germany in 1947 with the U.S. Department of State, Geneva in 1953 with the United Nations and returned to the U.S., at Valley Forge, Pa., in 1966. They moved to Lakewood in 1971 and most recently the Heritage Club in 2005.
Dorothy was an Alpha Phi, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, on the board of the YWCA Denver and a founding board member of the Women’s Bank. She spent many years volunteering for charity thrift shops, including La Cache in Denver, and credits her lifetime of yoga for her good health.
Dorothy and her family started Big Country Radio, known as KBCR in Steamboat Springs, in the early 1970s. KBCR was the first radio station in Steamboat. Steamboat and the Yampa Valley played a formative role in the lives of her children and grandchildren. Her favorite activities included skiing, hot air ballooning, the rodeo and family gatherings.
She was predeceased by her husband, John, on Sept. 8, 2008; her brother Dwight in 1951; and her son Michael in 1951. Dorothy is survived by children John Griswold Gayer and wife Carol, of Albuquerque, N.M., Diane Elliott Gayer and partner Mary Twitchell, of Burlington, Vt., and Dwight Harrison Gayer and wife Kathy, of Steamboat; her four grandchildren, Christina and Andy Campbell, of Iowa, Jack and Tamyra Gayer, of Dillon, and Kristopher Gayer and Dano Gayer, of Steamboat; and her seven great-grandchildren as well as nieces, nephews and cousins.
Any gifts in Dorothy’s memory may be sent to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (www.plannedparenthood.org/rocky-mountains).
