A. Dorothy Lounsbury

WESTERLO — A. Dorothy Lounsbury, a loving mother and a dedicated former town board member, died on Wednesday, July 8, at her home in Lake Onderdonk with her family near her. She was 87.

“She took a great deal of love and pride in her family and friends,” said Mrs. Lounsbury’s daughter, Barbara Wisenburn. “Everyone meant so much to her.”

Mrs. Lounsbury was the daughter of  John and Amelia Ringwald. She married Theodore S. Lounsbury on Dec. 2, 1951 at the Methodist Church in Coeyman’s Hollow.

Mrs. Lounsbury served on the Westerlo Town Board for 28 years.

“She was very dedicated to her job,” her daughter said. “She just put her whole heart in it.”

Mrs. Lounsbury enjoyed greeting visitors from Westerlo’s sister town in Belgium.

“She loved to entertain them. She enjoyed their company,” Ms. Wisenburn said.

Mrs. Lounsbury also visited Westerlo, Belgium, with her fellow town board members.

“She loved to travel,” her daughter said; Mrs. Lounsbury traveled to Europe with her sister, seeing England, Switzerland, France, and Germany.

“She had traveled across the United States by train with two close friends to California, then down to New Orleans and back to New York,” Ms. Wisenburn said of her mother. “She had a lot of fun doing that.”

Mrs. Lounsbury also visited Ms. Wisenburn at her previous home in Florida, and another relative in Rhode Island.

“She just enjoyed her family and her friends,” her daughter said.

Mrs. Lounsbury had four children, four grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

“She dearly cherished her great-grandchildren. She was just a good person,” her daughter said. “She was very proud that my nephew, Theodore, now is a councilman on the Westerlo Town Board.”

Mrs. Lounsbury did data entry for the New York State Department of Transportation for many years, and, before that, worked as a clerk at John Boyd Thacher State Park.

She enjoyed her work, Ms. Wisenburn said.

“She always kept herself busy and was very independent,” her daughter said. “She always helped people out when she could.”

Mrs. Lounsbury’s husband, Theodore, died in 1978. He had purchased land on Lake Onderdonk, where Mrs. Lounsbury later built her home. She sold her Dormansville home in 1982.

Mrs. Lounsbury was cared for by her daughter, a nurse, for the last seven years of her life. They shared a home.

“You do that for somebody who is dedicated,” Ms. Wisenburn said. “She’s seen me through many things. It was natural that I be there for her. It wasn’t something I questioned, it was automatic.”

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Mrs. Lounsbury is survived by her children, Gail Snyder, and her husband, Robbie; Barbara Wisenburn; Mark Lounsbury Sr. and his wife, Sharon; and Theodore Lounsbury Jr. and his wife, Debbie. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Theodore Lounsbury III and his wife, Julie; Eric Lounsbury and his wife, Amber;  Jennifer O’Leary and her husband, Kevin; Mark Lounsbury Jr. and his wife, Alicia; and her great-grandchildren Zoey, Owen, Claire, Teddy, Eric, Collin, Logan, Connor, and Declan.

Mrs. Lounsbury is survived, too, by her in-laws, Patrick Lounsbury and his wife, Helen; John Lounsbury and his wife, Diane; Terry Lounsbury and his wife, Eva; Donna Lounsbury; Sandra Ross; Bettejean Mueller and her husband, William; Irene Lounsbury; and many nieces and nephews.

Her parents, John and Amelia Ringwald, died before her as did her husband, Theodore S. Lounsbury; her son-in-law, James Wisenburn; and all of her siblings, John, Bill, Arthur, and Bobbie Ringwald, Emilie Smith, and Christine Koskinen.

Calling hours were Sunday at A.J. Cunningham Funeral Home in Greenville. The funeral was held Monday, with burial in Onesquethaw Cemetery. Condolences may be made at www.ajcunninghamfh.com.

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