Dorothy Berg Roark

We wanted to keep her with us forever and our loving, wonderful mother and grandmother obliged us for 103 years, 2 months, and 2 weeks. It was still too soon for us to say goodbye.

Dorothy Berg Roark was born on December 2, 1921, in the front bedroom of the family home in Murray, Utah. Dorothy was the last of twelve children born to Harriett Rosalia Sanders and Hans Peter Arnold Berg. She always said she had a wonderful childhood growing up in a close-knit neighborhood with her loving family.

Of her parents, she said: “Mother was a wonderful cook and an especially good pie maker. She was deaf from childhood, and had no problem letting my friends and I roller skate around the dining table on the linoleum floor on long winter days! Dad loved his children and was a very involved father, especially for the time. He was also a wonderful dancer. My sisters and I would team up with him and win dance contests as teenagers.”

Dorothy attended elementary school at Arlington Elementary, then Murray High for both junior high and high school, and then attended and graduated from Excelsius Beauty School in 1940.

During WWII, Dorothy recalled: “About once a week during WWII, my girlfriends and I would get on the great big army truck at City Hall and go out to the Kearns army base. I have many memories of meeting the nicest fellows there - and they were very good dancers, too! There was also a USO club on State Street in Murray. You had to be invited to be a hostess, which I was! Then you would get assigned a certain night to go down there and entertain the fellows. Play cards or checkers, write letters, and dance.”

After the war, a short marriage produced Dorothy’s only daughter, Marsha. Then, after a year or so of living with Dorothy’s doting older sister, Verna, Dorothy married Jack Roark in her parents’ living room on Feb 11, 1950. They had three sons: John, Robert, and Lynn. Those children blessed her with 18 grandchildren and an ever-growing coterie of great-grandchildren. She said “Family is the most important thing in life - and the older you get, the more important it is!” We all knew how important we were to her because she demonstrated it constantly. 

Dorothy was a fantastic seamstress and did lots of embroidery and sewing for her family, including making prom and wedding dresses, stage costumes, and pajamas for the grandchildren. She loved traveling with Jack and her family all over the U.S., Hawaii, Mexico, and Tahiti. Jack died on her birthday in 1991.

Their oldest son, John, lived with Dorothy and kept her excellent company until his death in 2023. Having him there allowed Dorothy to stay in her home in her later years, as she wanted. Dorothy’s other children and her granddaughters, along with her excellent hospice carers, Christi and Megan, looked after her daily and ensured that she could remain at home for the rest of her life.

She said her secret to longevity was to “Just keep breathing - breathing is very important. And be blessed with excellent genetics!” In her last years, Dorothy loved watching “Dancing With the Stars” and discussing all of the drama on “The Bachelor” with her granddaughters.Dorothy passed away in the early hours of Sunday, February 16, 2025 in the way she always wanted: at home, with her loving family and her little dog, Zoey, by her side. We loved her absolutely and unconditionally, because she loved us that way first. 

A viewing will be held for friends and family at 11:45 a.m. - 12:34 p.m with funeral services following at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2025, at the Russon Mortuary, 295 North Main Street, Bountiful. Interment at Memorial Lakeview Mortuary and Cemetery, 1640 Lakeview Drive, Bountiful, Utah