Dorothy Maella Sturdivant Blakeslee, born in North East Twp in a duplex on Route 20 between Harborcreek. & North East, PA on August 17th 1918. The daughter of Irvin Walker Sturdivant (1898-1946) and Ruth Ellen Davis Sturdivant (1898-1973). She had one younger sibling, a brother, Robert Lester Sturdivant (1922-2002). At age seven she contracted rumatic fever which burned the nerves in her ears leaving her with severe hearing loss. With persistence she managed to attend public school till grade 8 before dropping out, she didn't know sign language, but she learned to read lips on her own. So well that most people did not know she had a extreme hearing loss. At age 22, she married Arthur Leroy Blakeslee (1917-1993) on October 5, 1940 in Cumberland, Maryland and lived in Erie , Pa. all 53 yrs of their married life. Giving live births to five children, 3 sons (Norman Gene, Gerald Alan (1943-1943) & Ronald Charles)& 2 daughters, (Jacquelynne Ruth & Carole Florence). Dorothy was a stay at home wife and mother who enjoyed sewing and crafts, including knitting & traveling. The last decade of her life she struggled with macular degeneration. With the hearing loss and now vision loss, communication was extremely limited. She lived with her youngest daughter, Carole, who cared for her needs and was with her at the final hours. She was a breast cancer survivor but in 2009 cancer came back with a vengeance and took her life 4 months before her 92nd birthday on April 5, 2010.
At the time of her passing she seen all but one of her 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren and two great grandchildren; with one great-great grandchild on the way. Several nieces and nephews and extended family member also survive.
Russel C. Schmidt & Son Funeral Home, 5000 Wattsburg Road, Erie, handled the arrangements.
Memorials may be made to the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation or the Erie Center for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, 2402 Cherry Street, Erie.

Obituary Published in the Erie Times, Wednesday, April 7, 2010