Dorothy Ann Jansa Gorton Edwardson
Dorothy Ann Jansa Gorton Edwardson passed away on August 11, 2021.
Dorothy Ann, the only child of Joe and Annie (Langer) Jansa was born October 2, 1923, in the Czechoslovakian village of Ennis, Texas.
She attended Ennis Public schools graduating from EHS in 1941. She then moved to Fort Worth where she would enter vocational school focusing on a career in nursing until the calling to do her civil duty as one of the women known as “Rosie the Riveter”. By 1945 Dorothy joined the Army Medical Corp and was stationed at the Post Hospital at Camp Edwards and Fort Devens in Boston, Massachusetts. It was there that she would fall in love with one of the soldiers, Norman Jay Gorton. On May 11, 1946, they were married. In 1947 the Gorton’s would move to Dorothy’s hometown of Ennis.
Dorothy decided to earn her Licensed Practical Nurse Certification. She worked at the Ennis Municipal Hospital and loved what she did. When not working, she and Norman enjoyed dancing Polka in the Halls of Ennis and traveling with their children.
In 1967 they moved to Springdale, Arkansas. Dorothy worked as an LPN at the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville. She retired in 1975.
Norman Jay, Dorothy’s husband, of thirty-three years, would pass on June 15, 1979. Later she met and married Norman J. Edwardson, of Minnesota. They enjoyed traveling and playing bridge. They became such good Bridge players that they were honored as International Bridge Masters by the Bridge League. Norman J. Edwardson’s life would end March 29, 2009.
Dorothy received the status of a World War II Honoree of the United States Army Branch by the World War II Museum.
She moved to Enid, Oklahoma in June 2010 where she enjoyed going for rides and playing Scrabble, feeding the ducks and taking walks. In, 2020, she was given the Woodring Wall of Honor’s Legacy Veteran of the Year award.
This 97-year-old mother, grandmother, and great grandmother will certainly be missed.
Dorothy Ann Jansa Gorton Edwardson is survived by her older daughter, Sharon Kowalski and husband Gary, of Enid, her younger daughter, Gayle Snider and husband Joe, of Springdale, Arkansas; her half-brother, Jerry Jansa and wife Carolyn, of Dimmitt, Texas; and her grandchildren, Brad Johnson and wife Kelly, of Piedmont, Terrence Gorton, of Houston, Texas, and Jayson Kowalski, of Enid; great grandchildren: Andrew, and Katelyn Johnson, of Piedmont, Grant and Christa Johnson of Oklahoma City, and Parker and Liz Johnson, of Abilene, Texas. She was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Roger Gorton, and her two Normans.
