Centenarian Dorothy Elizabeth Dilts-Ishoy of Crescent City, California passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 18, 2021 in Murrieta, California. She is now celebrating a long-awaited reunion with her husband Jan, grandson Kenneth, and sister Marjorie. She is survived by her children Jan and Karen, grandchildren Jennifer, Jami, Allison, Deborah and Curtis, great-grandchildren Amanda, Andrew, Madison, Alan, Michael, Jessica, Samuel, Jaida, Jacob, Kristianna, AJ, Jessi, Alanis, Brion, Campbell, Christian, and Kolbe, and great-great grandchildren Eli, Logan, Jonah and one more on the way.Dorothy was a native Californian and always said she would never live anywhere else. She was born and raised in Ontario, California and graduated from Chaffey High School in 1937. After her father passed, she misrepresented her age and obtained her driver’s license at the age of 14 and went to work in the Hemet apricot fields to support her family in recovery after The Great Depression. She consistently worked (and drove) from 14 until she was 95 years old. Throughout her later life when asked how she was able to live so long, her answer was simply “On my feet.”On November 10, 1940, Dorothy married Janus Christian Ishoy in Yuma, Arizona and they celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary prior to his passing in 1993. They traveled with the military for a few years and settled down in Sunnymead, California. She was an elementary school teacher and taught Kindergarten at Sunnymead School for many years. After relocating to Crescent City, California in 1965, she continued to teach elementary school in Smith River until her retirement.After Dorothy retired from teaching, she joined the Crescent Harbor Art Gallery and held one-on-one art lessons with many of the local children and traveled to different elementary schools to hold group art lessons. She lovingly taught her grandkids to paint, read, sew, cook, embroider, and crochet. She was very patient, kind, and humorous, and there wasn’t a student around she couldn’t reach with her gentle instruction.She painted watercolor almost exclusively, and no matter where she was throughout the year, you would always be able to find her booth on the 4th of July at the front door of the cultural center, displaying her paintings and cheerfully greeting all who stopped by. While her most popular painting was of Battery Point Lighthouse, she loved painting the redwoods with wildlife and American Indian scenes. You can still see her artwork within the murals in Crescent City, and every now and again one of her paintings will show up on a wall in a building or restaurant.Dorothy was especially proud of her American Indian heritage and visited reservations throughout Northern California, painting portraits of the locals as she passed through. She also took on the role of family historian. She learned as much as she could about her husband’s Danish heritage and passed down that knowledge to the family. We will forever miss eating Danish pancakes with her on Christmas morning with a side of pumpkin pie.In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her name to The Crescent Harbor Art Gallery to help support children’s art lessons for the community that Dorothy cherished. She will be laid to rest with her husband at the Del Norte County Veterans Cemetery in Crescent City, California. While a grave site service will be scheduled, it will likely be held in the summertime.Crescent Harbor Art Gallery140 Marine WayCrescent City, CA 95531 707-464-9133To donate online:https://gofundme/4c00f057 googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });