Dorotha Marie Downs Baier, 86, Syracuse, formerly of Avoca, died Saturday, Jan. 29, 2005. She was born Nov. 4, 1918, at Weeping Water, the daughter of E. Daniel and Edith Marie (Cole) Sudduth, grew up in the Weeping Water and Avoca area, and graduated from Avoca High School in 1936. She was married to James Wilber Downs May 23, 1936, at Arbor Lodge State Park in Nebraska City. They lived most of their 39 years of marriage in Havelock, where they raised their three children. She was employed for several years with Russell Stovers Candy Company, and then at the Nebraska State Historical Society until her retirement. After her husband's death in 1975, she married Sterling I. Baier on April 8, 1978, in Lincoln. They purchased an acreage in Avoca, where they lived until Parkinson's disease required her to move to the Good Samaritan Center in Syracuse in 2001. The family attended Havelock Christian Church. She later was a member of Havelock United Methodist Church, and transferred her membership to the Avoca United Church of Christ, Congregational Church in 1990. She was a 50-year member of Rebecca Lodge Vesper 375, Martha Washington Eastern Star.

Survivors: husband, Sterling; daughters, Ellen Singleton and husband Paul of Seward, Helen (Stein) Huls and husband Roger of Beatrice; son, Robert A. Downs and wife Shirlee of Aurora, Colo.; 10 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; sisters-in-law, Shirlee Sudduth of Longmont, Colo.; Mae Sudduth of Omaha; Winona (Orlin) Burrill of Murdock; nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her first husband, James Wilber Downs (1975); parents, E. Daniel and Edith Marie (Cole) Sudduth; brothers, Donald, Lloyd Sudduth; son-in-law, Jesse O. Stein.

Funeral: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S. 14th St., Lincoln, the Rev. Michael A. Stein and the Rev. Renae V. Koehler officiating. Burial: Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday, and 9 a.m. until service time Wednesday; visitation with family from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, all at the funeral home. Memorials to Parkinson's Association or to donor's favorite charity. Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, Lincoln, in charge of arrangements.

Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Monday, January 31, 2005