DOROTHY DAHLBERG, 1928-2003: The Tampa Bay native, who returned home after 50 years, volunteered at the Centre for Women in Hyde Park.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published October 17, 2003
BEACH PARK - Art Dahlberg remembers his mother as an exceptionally intelligent woman who valued education and hard work.
Dorothy Dahlberg earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Florida State University in 1946 and a master's in education at Kansas University.
She had a long career as an educator but still found the time and energy to return to school and earn a second master's degree, in counseling, when she was about 60 years old.
While she was passionate about her intellectual pursuits, she never placed too much importance on them, her son said.
"Her message was that intelligence would only get you so far," he said. "Hard work was the most important thing."
Mrs. Dahlberg died Oct. 5 at age 74.
Born Dorothy Pate in 1925, she grew up in Seminole Heights. Her father owned and operated a company called Pate Stevedoring, located where the Florida Aquarium now stands.
After graduating from college and getting married, she moved to Toledo, Ohio, where her two children were born and she began her 20-year teaching career.
"She was a teacher for a number of years, and I think she saw a lot of things that were disturbing to her," her son said. "So she got an advanced degree in counseling when she was very much at the end of her career."
Mrs. Dahlberg was a social worker in Kansas and Missouri for several years before she retired.
Even in retirement, she didn't stop working. She devoted a lot of time to Oxford House Group Homes, a nationwide chain of residences for recovering alcoholics and addicts, and to centers for abused and battered women.
Mrs. Dahlberg was living in Virginia in 1991 when her only daughter, Lenora Parks, died of congestive heart failure.
"That was a defining moment for all of us," Art Dahlberg said. "Seeing your daughter die, that's just not supposed to happen."
A lot of mothers would have sunk deep into depression. Not Mrs. Dahlberg.
Her daughter's death reinforced her belief that life is precious and every day should be savored.
That was especially true because heart problems were common in Mrs. Dahlberg's family. All of her siblings had died at a relatively young age.
"I think she had assumed for the last few years that she was living on borrowed time," her son said.
In the mid-1990s, Mrs. Dahlberg returned to Tampa and bought a house in Beach Park to be closer to family.
After being away for more than 50 years, her childhood home seemed like a different place. When she left for college in the early 1940s, her family's home on Osborne Avenue had been considered in the country.
She came to enjoy the booming metropolis Tampa had become and quickly resumed her volunteer work. She used her background in counseling and social work to help a youth program at the Centre for Women in Hyde Park.
Heart problems that had plagued her family began to affect Mrs. Dahlberg a few years ago, and her niece, Nancy Pate, took care of her.
Mrs. Dahlberg probably knew she was dying, but she never let it show.
"I talked to her the night before (she died) and she was very positive and upbeat," her son said.
Her cheerfulness, even on the eve of her death, was a testament to her philosophy of living, he said. She didn't see her own death as a tragedy because she had worked hard, helped a lot of people and appreciated life.
"I'm so proud of her," Art Dahlberg said. "I couldn't have asked for a better mom."
