Obituary Excerpt, The Columbia Daily Tribune, January 10, 2008:
Dorothy Sappington Holsinger, 102, formerly of Columbia, passed away Monday, January 7, 2008, at The Stuart House in Centralia.
Dorothy was born on October 6, 1905, in Columbia; the daughter of the late Admiral Dot Sappington, founder of The Central Dairy, and Lula Maggie Pearl Maupin Sappington.
Dorothy earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She was an honored teacher and athlete. Her first teaching job was in the St. Charles schools in 1926, followed by Kansas State University (then College), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Dayton, where she started the program of physical education for women in the 1930s.
After teaching at Columbia College (then Christian College), and briefly in Pasadena, California, in the 1950s, she began the last 15 years of her teaching career at the University of Missouri. There she taught and coached the women's field hockey and golf teams and taught countless men and women the methods and materials of teaching children physical education.
Before retiring in 1972, she received the university's Alumni Award and the Department of Education's highest faculty award. In 2002, she received the Women's Intrasport Network Sportswoman of the Year award for paving the way for female athletes.
As an athlete, she won the Florida Women's Amateur Golf Championship title in 1932 under the tutelage of University of Florida golf coach-husband, Joe. That was just two years after picking up a golf club for the first time. In the 1950s, she was five times the Missouri Women's Golf Sand Greens champion.
She was the first coach of the MU women's golf team during her years there, and she taught many Columbia youths the game in the city's summer recreation and playground program that she began and directed in the early 1950s. She was a student of the game and played it daily until a broken elbow in her mid-80s limited her, but a photograph documents her chipping onto the green just four summers ago.
Dorothy loved Columbia and gave to the community, in both secular and religious realms. Besides her recreation work for the city, she once ran for the Columbia Board of Education, was a sought after speaker at the university and was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church since 1947, when she moved back to Columbia after the death of her husband. She started The Mother's Club for the Catholic school there and served as its first president.
Up until age 99, she lived in her own home in Columbia under the care of Mark and Linda Holsinger. Since early 2005, she had resided at The Stuart House in Centralia.
She was the loving wife of the late Joseph Holsinger, who died of cancer in 1946, and she never remarried.
Survivors include two daughters and one son-in-law, three sons, three daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by sisters, Helen Tallent and Rozalie Gibbs; and brothers, Roy, Harry, Guy, A.D. and Spencer Sappington.
Dorothy lived a distinguished life, and she will be remembered with love by members of succeeding generations as a teacher and coach, mentor and model for how to live one's life fully. She filled every day of her 102 years with working, playing, loving and praying.
Dorothy Sappington Holsinger, 102, formerly of Columbia, passed away Monday, January 7, 2008, at The Stuart House in Centralia.
Dorothy was born on October 6, 1905, in Columbia; the daughter of the late Admiral Dot Sappington, founder of The Central Dairy, and Lula Maggie Pearl Maupin Sappington.
Dorothy earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She was an honored teacher and athlete. Her first teaching job was in the St. Charles schools in 1926, followed by Kansas State University (then College), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Dayton, where she started the program of physical education for women in the 1930s.
After teaching at Columbia College (then Christian College), and briefly in Pasadena, California, in the 1950s, she began the last 15 years of her teaching career at the University of Missouri. There she taught and coached the women's field hockey and golf teams and taught countless men and women the methods and materials of teaching children physical education.
Before retiring in 1972, she received the university's Alumni Award and the Department of Education's highest faculty award. In 2002, she received the Women's Intrasport Network Sportswoman of the Year award for paving the way for female athletes.
As an athlete, she won the Florida Women's Amateur Golf Championship title in 1932 under the tutelage of University of Florida golf coach-husband, Joe. That was just two years after picking up a golf club for the first time. In the 1950s, she was five times the Missouri Women's Golf Sand Greens champion.
She was the first coach of the MU women's golf team during her years there, and she taught many Columbia youths the game in the city's summer recreation and playground program that she began and directed in the early 1950s. She was a student of the game and played it daily until a broken elbow in her mid-80s limited her, but a photograph documents her chipping onto the green just four summers ago.
Dorothy loved Columbia and gave to the community, in both secular and religious realms. Besides her recreation work for the city, she once ran for the Columbia Board of Education, was a sought after speaker at the university and was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church since 1947, when she moved back to Columbia after the death of her husband. She started The Mother's Club for the Catholic school there and served as its first president.
Up until age 99, she lived in her own home in Columbia under the care of Mark and Linda Holsinger. Since early 2005, she had resided at The Stuart House in Centralia.
She was the loving wife of the late Joseph Holsinger, who died of cancer in 1946, and she never remarried.
Survivors include two daughters and one son-in-law, three sons, three daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by sisters, Helen Tallent and Rozalie Gibbs; and brothers, Roy, Harry, Guy, A.D. and Spencer Sappington.
Dorothy lived a distinguished life, and she will be remembered with love by members of succeeding generations as a teacher and coach, mentor and model for how to live one's life fully. She filled every day of her 102 years with working, playing, loving and praying.
Obituary Excerpt, The Columbia Daily Tribune, January 10, 2008:
Dorothy Sappington Holsinger, 102, formerly of Columbia, passed away Monday, January 7, 2008, at The Stuart House in Centralia.
Dorothy was born on October 6, 1905, in Columbia; the daughter of the late Admiral Dot Sappington, founder of The Central Dairy, and Lula Maggie Pearl Maupin Sappington.
Dorothy earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She was an honored teacher and athlete. Her first teaching job was in the St. Charles schools in 1926, followed by Kansas State University (then College), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Dayton, where she started the program of physical education for women in the 1930s.
After teaching at Columbia College (then Christian College), and briefly in Pasadena, California, in the 1950s, she began the last 15 years of her teaching career at the University of Missouri. There she taught and coached the women's field hockey and golf teams and taught countless men and women the methods and materials of teaching children physical education.
Before retiring in 1972, she received the university's Alumni Award and the Department of Education's highest faculty award. In 2002, she received the Women's Intrasport Network Sportswoman of the Year award for paving the way for female athletes.
As an athlete, she won the Florida Women's Amateur Golf Championship title in 1932 under the tutelage of University of Florida golf coach-husband, Joe. That was just two years after picking up a golf club for the first time. In the 1950s, she was five times the Missouri Women's Golf Sand Greens champion.
She was the first coach of the MU women's golf team during her years there, and she taught many Columbia youths the game in the city's summer recreation and playground program that she began and directed in the early 1950s. She was a student of the game and played it daily until a broken elbow in her mid-80s limited her, but a photograph documents her chipping onto the green just four summers ago.
Dorothy loved Columbia and gave to the community, in both secular and religious realms. Besides her recreation work for the city, she once ran for the Columbia Board of Education, was a sought after speaker at the university and was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church since 1947, when she moved back to Columbia after the death of her husband. She started The Mother's Club for the Catholic school there and served as its first president.
Up until age 99, she lived in her own home in Columbia under the care of Mark and Linda Holsinger. Since early 2005, she had resided at The Stuart House in Centralia.
She was the loving wife of the late Joseph Holsinger, who died of cancer in 1946, and she never remarried.
Survivors include two daughters and one son-in-law, three sons, three daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by sisters, Helen Tallent and Rozalie Gibbs; and brothers, Roy, Harry, Guy, A.D. and Spencer Sappington.
Dorothy lived a distinguished life, and she will be remembered with love by members of succeeding generations as a teacher and coach, mentor and model for how to live one's life fully. She filled every day of her 102 years with working, playing, loving and praying.
Dorothy Sappington Holsinger, 102, formerly of Columbia, passed away Monday, January 7, 2008, at The Stuart House in Centralia.
Dorothy was born on October 6, 1905, in Columbia; the daughter of the late Admiral Dot Sappington, founder of The Central Dairy, and Lula Maggie Pearl Maupin Sappington.
Dorothy earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
She was an honored teacher and athlete. Her first teaching job was in the St. Charles schools in 1926, followed by Kansas State University (then College), the University of Wisconsin and the University of Dayton, where she started the program of physical education for women in the 1930s.
After teaching at Columbia College (then Christian College), and briefly in Pasadena, California, in the 1950s, she began the last 15 years of her teaching career at the University of Missouri. There she taught and coached the women's field hockey and golf teams and taught countless men and women the methods and materials of teaching children physical education.
Before retiring in 1972, she received the university's Alumni Award and the Department of Education's highest faculty award. In 2002, she received the Women's Intrasport Network Sportswoman of the Year award for paving the way for female athletes.
As an athlete, she won the Florida Women's Amateur Golf Championship title in 1932 under the tutelage of University of Florida golf coach-husband, Joe. That was just two years after picking up a golf club for the first time. In the 1950s, she was five times the Missouri Women's Golf Sand Greens champion.
She was the first coach of the MU women's golf team during her years there, and she taught many Columbia youths the game in the city's summer recreation and playground program that she began and directed in the early 1950s. She was a student of the game and played it daily until a broken elbow in her mid-80s limited her, but a photograph documents her chipping onto the green just four summers ago.
Dorothy loved Columbia and gave to the community, in both secular and religious realms. Besides her recreation work for the city, she once ran for the Columbia Board of Education, was a sought after speaker at the university and was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church since 1947, when she moved back to Columbia after the death of her husband. She started The Mother's Club for the Catholic school there and served as its first president.
Up until age 99, she lived in her own home in Columbia under the care of Mark and Linda Holsinger. Since early 2005, she had resided at The Stuart House in Centralia.
She was the loving wife of the late Joseph Holsinger, who died of cancer in 1946, and she never remarried.
Survivors include two daughters and one son-in-law, three sons, three daughters-in-law, 14 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by sisters, Helen Tallent and Rozalie Gibbs; and brothers, Roy, Harry, Guy, A.D. and Spencer Sappington.
Dorothy lived a distinguished life, and she will be remembered with love by members of succeeding generations as a teacher and coach, mentor and model for how to live one's life fully. She filled every day of her 102 years with working, playing, loving and praying.
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