Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Booker, Dorothy Rhodean Helms November 3, 2001
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Diane Renfrow dianel14@gmail.com November 1, 2013, 1:44 pm

Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA) - Tuesday, November 6, 2001 
NORFOLK - Dorothy Rhodean Helms Booker, 87, of the 100 block of Hardy Ave., was
born in Norfolk Jan. 17, 1914 and died Saturday, Nov. 3, 2001.

At an early age she was orphaned by the deaths of both her parents and a few
years later by her grandparents. When she was nine years old, she and her
brother, Charlie were adopted by James and Sarah Scott who were friends of her
grandmother. Dorothy and Charlie were educated in the Norfolk Public Schools,
both graduating from Booker T. Washington High School. Also, Dorothy was a
longtime member of Bank Street Memorial Church, having been brought there as a
child by Sarah Scott. For many years she was member of the Ballard-Epperson
Sunday School class.

She married Eldridge L. Booker but was widowed by the age of 30 when her husband
was killed in a war-time accident. As a young single mother, she supported
herself and her son for the next 10 years as a nurse. When her son graduated
from college, she went back to school and became qualified to work in the food
services division of the Norfolk Public Schools from which she retired. Being
retired and idle didn't suit her so she accepted employment in Portsmouth at the
New York Deli where she remained until she was in her 70s.

When Norfolk began its redevelopment in the 1950s she and her brother's family
moved from their Bank Street residence to Hardy Avenue in Berkley, where she
remained for the rest of her life. In Berkley, she became active in several
social and civic organizations such as the Daughters of Berkley and the Senior
Citizens of Berkley where she participated in the Senior Olympics and won
several medals and ribbons. Earlier she became a member of the Tents and in the
mid-1940s was one of the first ``negro'' den mothers in Norfolk when she became
active with Boy Scout Cub Pack 77.

She is survived by a son, Stephen-Harold Booker of Plattsburgh, N.Y.; nephews,
Joe Landy and his wife, Mary of Virginia Beach and Vandy Parker and wife, Gladys
of Fayetteville, N.C.; several grandnieces and grandnephews; and a host of
longtime faithful friends.

A funeral will be conducted Thursday at 11 a.m. at Bank Street Memorial Baptist
Church by Dr. C.K. Harris. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery . The remains will
rest at the church from 9:30 a.m. until the hour of service. Hale Funeral Home
is in charge of arrangements. 

Additional Comments:
Calvary Cemetery

BOOKER, DOROTHY H I3956 Section 23, Block 23, Lot 77, Space SW COR 87 11/08/2001

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