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Dorothy Godknecht McManigal

Dorothy Godknecht McManigal.  Born June 17, 1924 to John and Annie Godknecht in Dufur, Oregon​. ​Passed away September 28th, 2021.

Dorothy grew up in Wasco County, Oregon.   She attended the University of Oregon  School of Journalism​, graduating in 1946.  Dorothy began her reporting career in her Sophomore year as the first female student campus correspondent to the Portland Journal, where she was hired upon graduation, when women staffers were a rarity.

After marriage, she relocated to Seattle. While raising her family, Dorothy was active in community service, volunteering with the Lake Forest Park PTA, providing public relations for Camp Fire Girls, and raising funds for the nascent Shoreline Library. She worked eight years at the Seattle Fireplace shop​ and then retired after twenty-three years of employment with the Arthur R. Hill company, a grain brokerage. 

For ​seventeen years​, Dorothy and her husband​, Jim​, enjoyed traveling the United States to participate in annual reunions of Jim’s WW II Navy Destroyer, the USS Bennion​.  They hosted the event in Seattle in 1990. 

Dorothy carried her love of the written word with her throughout her life, maintaining correspondence with everyone from her children and grandchildren to friends and neighbors. Her training as a journalist, love of storytelling, and passion for American history fueled her work in documenting and archiving her family’s history. No visit to her home was complete without Dorothy regaling her visitors with tales from her childhood on the family farm or her adventurous younger years in Eugene, Portland and Seattle.

Preceded in death by husband​, James E. McManigal, sisters, Margaret and Jean, son-in-law, William Turner and most of her contemporaries.  She is survived by her children, John (Marlene) and Jane Turner, four grandchildren, three great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and friends and admirers from all walks and ages. She will be greatly missed. 

​As she had requested, there will be no services.  

Memorials can be made to the Dorothy G. McManigal Scholarship Fund
c/o
Ranger Pride Education Foundation 
802 NE 5th Street
Dufur, OR 97021

This scholarship supports post secondary education.


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