Still lighting up the stage

Shelby Wilt
NLJ Reporter
 
Dorothy Walker-Brown gathered with loved ones on April 27, 2019, to celebrate 95 years of life. 
“My birthday party was fabulous!” she told the News Letter Journal.
Dorothy was born to James Lewis Miller and Mary Morse on April 22, 1924, in Harden, Mont., but grew up on the Cheyenne River. Her grandfather homesteaded on original Mule Creek, where the oil wells are located. 
She graduated from high school in Lusk in 1942 and worked at Penney’s, the mercantile store. 
“I had excellent depth perception, which led to an oddly fun job,” she said.
Her depth perception led her from the store to military service, and Dorothy’s talent helped her park airplanes while she served in the armed forces for three years during World War II. 
Upon arriving home from the war, Dorothy went on to work in multiple hospitals as a nurse’s aid. She had worked at the Lusk and Rock Springs hospital before she got her license as a practicing nurse. 
In 1959, Dorothy married her husband, Clarence Baker, in Nebraska, and would give birth to their only son, C.L. Baker Jr. She also had a foster daughter, Dana Petrick, whom she took in when Dana was 15 years old. Dorothy has two grandsons, Micheal and Patrick, and a granddaughter, Mamie. 
“I retired when I was 50 years old, because that’s when hours started going up to 12-hour shifts, and that was too much for me! I’ve been retired for 35 years,” Dorothy said of her life since working and raising children. “I still go to church regularly. I used to play the piano and teach Sunday school, but as the years went by medical issues got in the way.”
Dorothy said she is now a homebody, but still tries to keep herself active in the community. 
“One day, Shane (Sellers) and I were sitting in church talking about how we do not have any live performance in Newcastle. So we put our heads together, and came up with the idea of the Birdcage Theatre. We had our first performance in the Methodist church. We enjoy doing the dinner theater genre because the church members do all the meals. We’ve done it for three years now, and contrary to beliefs, we are still going to do it, but are in search of a venue,” Dorothy explained.