Dorothy Edna Kuhn Tarkington of Brennan Road, Escalon passed away peacefully in Modesto, California on May 11, 2018, three days after celebrating her 98th birthday.
Dorothy was born May 8, 1920 in San Francisco. As a newborn baby Dorothy’s family took her home on a ferry boat across San Francisco Bay to Berkeley. At age five her family moved back to San Francisco where she attended Sunnyside Grammar School, Aptos Junior High and Lowell High School. She received her bachelor’s degree in teaching and art from San Francisco State University in 1943.
Dorothy met her husband John at a U.S.O. dance at the Fairmont Hotel in 1943 and they were married a year later on Dec. 3, 1944. They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary before John’s death in 1999. Dorothy taught school and was a beloved wife and mother. She showed leadership as a Boy Scout den mother and a Girl Scout troop leader and quiet dignity when her son John passed away from leukemia in 1961. She sewed beautifully, had lovely handwriting, was a keen friend, a great cook and an artist whose watercolor and acrylic paintings won awards and have sold throughout the region.
Dorothy moved from San Francisco to Escalon in 1968 with her husband John, a U.S. Custom Inspector and her daughter, Lee Lundrigan (Tarkington) an attorney and the elected County Clerk-Recorder of Stanislaus County. Dorothy was a member of the Western Growers Association and Growers Harvesting Committee, Modesto Republican Women and continued to be an influence as one of the founders and a president of the Valley Art Association. Dorothy was known as the “picture lady” to generations of youth in Escalon where she taught enrichment classes about subjects spanning the field of fine arts from jeweled Faberge Eggs to Van Gogh and Rembrandt paintings. She had many wonderful friends and neighbors and loved them dearly.
Dorothy was a third generation Californian. Her family originated in Germany and lived through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She retold stories her grandmother Johanna Margarita Paulsen (Jungclaus) told about people camping in the sand dunes by the beach to avoid the raging fire that burned San Francisco after the earthquake. Dorothy’s grandfather Captain Reinhold Johann Paulsen was a sea captain who sailed the coast of California in his ship the S.S. Curacao. Dorothy was the daughter of Selda Dorothy Kuhn (Paulsen) and Edmund Fredrick Kuhn Jr., an architect at Pacific Gas & Electric in San Francisco.
She vividly remembered how close she was to her beloved sister, Helen Adele Valencia (Kuhn) and how the two of them as young girls cooked and cared for their father upon their mother’s death when Dorothy was only 11. Dorothy and Helen were lifelong friends.
Dorothy was predeceased by her parents Selda Dorothy Kuhn (Paulsen) (1931) and Edmund Fredrick Kuhn Jr. (1946), her husband John Milton Tarkington, Jr. (1999), her son John Milton Tarkington III (1961), her sister Helen Adele Valencia (Kuhn) (2010) and brother-in-law Dr. Ronald Palmer Valencia (2008).
She is survived by her daughter Lee Lundrigan (Tarkington), grandchildren Todd, Kelly and Maren Lundrigan and nieces and nephews Ronald Valencia (Susan), Kristine Valencia, Janice Otter (Tom), Randall Valencia (Katriina), Reynold Valencia (Julianne), Richard Tarkington and Daniel Tarkington.
Her cremated ashes will be buried next to her husband John in Burwood Cemetery, Escalon. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the “Valley Art Association” scholarship program, PO Box 254, Riverbank, CA 95367 - valleyartassociation@gmail.com.
Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial service to celebrate Dorothy’s life at Burwood Cemetery, 28320 E. River Road, Escalon on Friday, June 29, 2018 at 11 a.m., followed by memories and lunch at the Escalon United Methodist Church, 2000 Jackson Ave., (Highway 120) Escalon.
The Escalon (Calif.) Times
Dorothy was born May 8, 1920 in San Francisco. As a newborn baby Dorothy’s family took her home on a ferry boat across San Francisco Bay to Berkeley. At age five her family moved back to San Francisco where she attended Sunnyside Grammar School, Aptos Junior High and Lowell High School. She received her bachelor’s degree in teaching and art from San Francisco State University in 1943.
Dorothy met her husband John at a U.S.O. dance at the Fairmont Hotel in 1943 and they were married a year later on Dec. 3, 1944. They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary before John’s death in 1999. Dorothy taught school and was a beloved wife and mother. She showed leadership as a Boy Scout den mother and a Girl Scout troop leader and quiet dignity when her son John passed away from leukemia in 1961. She sewed beautifully, had lovely handwriting, was a keen friend, a great cook and an artist whose watercolor and acrylic paintings won awards and have sold throughout the region.
Dorothy moved from San Francisco to Escalon in 1968 with her husband John, a U.S. Custom Inspector and her daughter, Lee Lundrigan (Tarkington) an attorney and the elected County Clerk-Recorder of Stanislaus County. Dorothy was a member of the Western Growers Association and Growers Harvesting Committee, Modesto Republican Women and continued to be an influence as one of the founders and a president of the Valley Art Association. Dorothy was known as the “picture lady” to generations of youth in Escalon where she taught enrichment classes about subjects spanning the field of fine arts from jeweled Faberge Eggs to Van Gogh and Rembrandt paintings. She had many wonderful friends and neighbors and loved them dearly.
Dorothy was a third generation Californian. Her family originated in Germany and lived through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She retold stories her grandmother Johanna Margarita Paulsen (Jungclaus) told about people camping in the sand dunes by the beach to avoid the raging fire that burned San Francisco after the earthquake. Dorothy’s grandfather Captain Reinhold Johann Paulsen was a sea captain who sailed the coast of California in his ship the S.S. Curacao. Dorothy was the daughter of Selda Dorothy Kuhn (Paulsen) and Edmund Fredrick Kuhn Jr., an architect at Pacific Gas & Electric in San Francisco.
She vividly remembered how close she was to her beloved sister, Helen Adele Valencia (Kuhn) and how the two of them as young girls cooked and cared for their father upon their mother’s death when Dorothy was only 11. Dorothy and Helen were lifelong friends.
Dorothy was predeceased by her parents Selda Dorothy Kuhn (Paulsen) (1931) and Edmund Fredrick Kuhn Jr. (1946), her husband John Milton Tarkington, Jr. (1999), her son John Milton Tarkington III (1961), her sister Helen Adele Valencia (Kuhn) (2010) and brother-in-law Dr. Ronald Palmer Valencia (2008).
She is survived by her daughter Lee Lundrigan (Tarkington), grandchildren Todd, Kelly and Maren Lundrigan and nieces and nephews Ronald Valencia (Susan), Kristine Valencia, Janice Otter (Tom), Randall Valencia (Katriina), Reynold Valencia (Julianne), Richard Tarkington and Daniel Tarkington.
Her cremated ashes will be buried next to her husband John in Burwood Cemetery, Escalon. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the “Valley Art Association” scholarship program, PO Box 254, Riverbank, CA 95367 - valleyartassociation@gmail.com.
Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial service to celebrate Dorothy’s life at Burwood Cemetery, 28320 E. River Road, Escalon on Friday, June 29, 2018 at 11 a.m., followed by memories and lunch at the Escalon United Methodist Church, 2000 Jackson Ave., (Highway 120) Escalon.
The Escalon (Calif.) Times
June 20, 2018
