Dorothy Knehans

Dorothy Seabaugh Knehans, 90, died Sunday, Feb. 17, 2002, at the Country Club Care Center in Warrensburg, Mo.

She grew up in Cape Girardeau, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. O.L. Seabaugh, and sister of Dr. William O.L. Seabaugh and Annabelle Watkins, all deceased.

Dorothy is survived by her three children, Jonathan B. Knehans of Lee's Summit, Mo., Jaclyn K. Miller of Warrensburg, and Marilyn Knehans of Dallas, Texas; and a granddaughter, Jill S. Knehans of Orlando, Fla.

As a young woman in 1928, she was chosen as Miss Cape Girardeau and as maid of honor for the dedication of the Mississippi River bridge.

She received a B.S. degree from Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in 1931, and a M.A. degree in art from Columbia University in New York City in 1933. She taught art at Ohio University and at Hillsdale College in Michigan. She studied art at the School of Art, Architecture and Music in Fountainbleau, France, in 1937.

Dorothy married Jack O. Knehans in 1941, who preceded her in death. During her marriage she put aside her interest in art while she raised their three children. She was active in Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA, Sunday School at Centenary United Methodist Church, and numerous high school and college activities.

She served as alumnae president of Delta Delta Delta sorority, president of the local chapter of P.E.O., and a member of the historical society.

Her interest in gardening and flower arranging was a wonderful outlet for her creativity, and she managed to combine this with community leadership and community beautification. In 1969 she was president of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, her contributions having been memorialized in 1997 by a commemorative plaque at Powell Gardens outside Kansas City.

She also was president of the Town and Country Garden Club and president of the Cape Girardeau Council of Garden Clubs, during which time she helped make the annual Rose Festival a main civic attraction which would exemplify Cape Girardeau as the "City of Roses".

Dorothy was a national flower show judge and held a landscape design critics certificate. She served on the state board as Parks and Blue Star Memorial chairman, Flower Show Schools chairman, and as vice president of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri several terms. She successfully launched the Missouri Flower Arrangement Calendar project, and was creator of the "Rambling Rose" caricature which appeared in the Garden Forum publication.

Her children, granddaughter, and friends will remember her for her adventurous and productive life as teacher, artist, wife and mother. Her children marvel at how she could stay so active yet still have time to be a wonderful mother, always exposing them to new and interesting things.

After her children left home and after her husband's death, she renewed her interest in art and travel, combining the two with art workshops on the East and West Coasts, and in Hawaii, China, and Mexico. In Mexico she became part of an artists colony in the mountain town of San Miguel de Alende, where she stayed several months out of the year. At her residence in Longboat Key, Fla., she remained active in art and was involved with the Longboat Key Art Center until 1993, when she moved to Warrensburg.

Her family and friends may remember her most for her quick wit and wonderful sense of humor, which she retained right up until her death. She loved good conversation and was a wonderful conversationalist herself, in part because of her travels and love of reading. She was the epitome of a strong, independent and adventurous woman, evermore the gracious and elegant lady.

In lieu of a memorial service, her children ask that her friends and family take a private moment to remember her and how she touched the lives of so many.

In her honor, the family has established the Dorothy Seabaugh Knehans Memorial Art Scholarship, Southeast Missouri University Foundation, One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau.