March 28, 1945: Dorothy is born in Fort Pierce, Florida to her parents, Don and Anne Leu. Don is training in Fort Pierce with the U.S. Navy SEALs. Dorothy, named after Don’s sister, is the first of five children born into the Leu family and the only girl. She would later change her name to Dot, Dotti, Dotie, and finally Doti.
May 1945 (age 2 months): Don is sent to China with the Navy SEALs during WWII. Anne and Doti move to Bismarck, North Dakota to live with Anne’s mother while Don is overseas.
1946 (age 1): With the war over, Don is reunited with Anne and Doti and they move to Bellingham, Washington, where Don re-enrolls at Western State College to finish his B.A. in Education. His studies had been interrupted by the war. Doti’s brother, Don Jr., is born the next year.
1947 (age 2): Doti’s father, Don, graduates from Western Washington College, then the family moves to Stevenson, Washington, near Portland. Don takes his first professional job there, as an elementary school teacher and then later, principal.
1949 (age 4): Doti’s brother Dave is born, the third Leu sibling.
1950 (age 5): Don, Anne, Doti, Don and Dave move to Shanks Village, New York, near New York City, where Don studies for his doctorate in Education at Columbia University.
1953 (age 8): Don graduates from Columbia, then the Leu family moves to East Lansing, Michigan, where Don becomes an assistant professor at Michigan State University.
1956 (age 11): Doti writes the 39-page Secret of the Mountain Lake for a class project.
1957 (age 12): Doti’s brother Dwight is born in East Lansing, the fourth Leu sibling.
1959 (age 14): Doti attends the two-week-long international Girl Scout Roundup near Colorado Springs, Colorado, one of the best experiences of her life. Of the 10,000 girl scouts there, she is among the youngest participants. A few months later, Del is born, the fifth and final Leu sibling.
1963 (age 18): After graduating from East Lansing High School, Doti enrolls at Michigan State University.
1964 (age 19): Doti elopes with Bill Parks, a journalism student at Michigan State University.
1965 (age 20): Doti and Bill move to Silver City, New Mexico. Bill works on the local newspaper there and Doti earns her B.A. in Education at Western New Mexico University.
1967 (age 22): Doti and Bill move to Butte, Montana where Bill joins the local newspaper.
April 1968 (age 23): Doti’s only child, Myles, is born. He was named after Myles Standish, a leader of the Mayflower settlement.
Summer 1968 (age 23): Doti, Bill and Myles move to Hayward, California. Earlier that summer, Don, Anne, Dwight and Del had moved from Michigan to San Jose, only an hour from Hayward. Don becomes the Dean of Education at San Jose State University.
1970s: Doti, Bill and Myles live in Hayward and Doti teaches at several elementary schools. She also helps start up a preschool in Hayward for Myles, which still thrives today. Doti, Bill and Myles frequently visit Don, Anne, Dwight and Del in San Jose.
1976 (age 31): Doti and Bill separate but Doti remains in the Bay Area. Later she moves to Sebastopol, California.
Late 1970s: Doti meets Larry (later Llorne) near Sebastopol and they move to northern Idaho. Myles remains in the Bay Area with his father, Bill.
1980 (age 35): Doti’s parents, Don and Anne, move from San Jose to Portland, Oregon, where Don becomes the Dean of Education at Portland State University.
1982 (age 37): Doti marries Llorne and they live in a cabin in Idaho for two years. Llorne works as a cook in a nearby restaurant.
1984 (age 39): To be closer to Don and Anne, Doti and Llorne move to Lincoln City, Oregon. Doti starts tutoring children and becomes a pioneer in Lincoln City for emphasizing the connection between nutrition and learning.
1986 (age 41): Sadly, Doti's dear son Myles dies in a car accident at age 18. He had been a freshman at Chico State University.
1990: After many years in Portland, Doti’s parents move to Bellingham, Washington, where they had lived in the 1940s. They buy a house in the community of Sudden Valley. About this same time, Doti and Llorne separate. Doti continues to live in Lincoln City, Oregon while tutoring children.
1999 (age 53): Doti’s beloved mother Anne passes away. Doti moves from Lincoln City to Bellingham to help care for her father, Don.
2000 (age 54): For his work in education, Don is named one of Western Washington University’s 10 “Alumni of the Century.” Several family members, including Doti, attend the ceremony.
2002 (age 57): Doti’s beloved father Don passes away at age 79. Doti remains in Sudden Valley, living in her parent’s house.
2012 (age 67): Doti’s loving brother Dwight passes away at age 54 in California.
January 28, 2017 (age 71): My dear sister Doti passes away in Bellingham.