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(1908-2002)
Dora Anderson, our mother, died on February 7, 2002 peacefully in her sleep. She was 93, teaching right up until her death.
We couldn't have asked for a better mother. No one cared for her children and their welfare more. Her life was built on intelligent, logical choices. She worked hard to acquire a good home for her family. She was well liked by everyone.
She had four children, Wayne, Roger, Deanna, and Renae.
Following is the Tribute written by Roger Simister, her second oldest son, ... a very moving story of a mother who went the extra mile....
In her life time Dora experienced a great change in American history and culture. From the age of coal burning stoves to microwave ovens, from horse & buggies to astronauts orbiting the earth, from the difficulties of the great depression to new record stock market highs of the ’90s. She saw and lived it all, and she marveled at the progress man had made, she often commented “How lucky I am to live in this day and age”.
Dora spent practically all of her life in the Salt Lake Valley. This is the place she loved, the mountains, the summers, and the winters, she looked forward to each and every day. Not once did she think that there were greener pastures in California or the land beyond, She loved Salt Lake City and that’s where she put her roots.
Her happiest moments as a little girl were on the back of her dear Papa, “I can still feel Papa’s gate as he carried me with my head on his shoulder”. “Papa and I were pals” she said. Whenever papa built something she was there as his little helper, she would sit on one end of the board while he sawed off the other. She would love to watch and help him build additions to their little home.
Her mom and dad lived in various places in the valley, but they finally settled in at 954 So. 8th East. A home with a big backyard with a red barn and chicken coops. Dora would spend many hot summer days in the top of the barn, resting and dreaming while laying in the soft hay. That was her secret place. She spent summers with her neighborhood friend Paul Cartwright making mud pies, jumping off the coal shed, playing “run sheepie run”, and playing with her little pet kittens. She played for hours with her little dolls which she named Lucile and Marie.
People who knew Dora often expressed their admiration for her positive attitude and pleasant disposition. “She always showed exuberance for life and for her music” Quoted the receptionist of the Senior Center that she visited often. Although she was going on 93 she would hustle her keyboard and music books to the center twice a week to teach others the pleasure of music. She did this as a service of love, expecting no compensation, the only reward being the light in her students eyes as they discovered their new talent.
After moving to 8th East Dora attended Hamilton elementary and then went on to Rosevelt Jr. High, that’s where she met her life long friend Elma. It was Elma that she walked to school with, doubled dated with, and shared many life time memories. As fate would have it, Elma was the one who introduced Dora to her future husband.
“Ralph was all dressed up and looked fit to kill” said Dora when she first saw him. This was at a Bridge social in a exclusive Federal Heights home. Both were taken back with one another, dating followed and they soon became well acquainted. This happened while Dora was attending East High School, it was the Glee club social that brought her to the Federal Heights home.
No marriage is like the story “they lived happily ever after” Dora reminded her kids. Although Ralph and Dora had their differences, they stuck it out. “We stuck it out through thick and thin” Dora always reminded her little family that there is no guarantee for complete happiness.
Another favorite friend of Dora was her cousin Erma Robinson, their favorite adventure was riding the trolly car to the end of the line at 2700 South. This was the place of Wandamere Park, a very popular place during the ’20s. There were rides and concessions and the big lake they could stroll along during the warm summer months. “I will remember those precious days I had with Erma the rest of my life” said Dora. This is because her cousin passed away a few short years later of appendicitis.
It was Papa that insisted that Dora have a musical education. Mrs. Buckle taught Dora her first lessons in piano and singing. Through thick and thin, Papa made sure Dora attended her music lessons, this taught her the lesson of persistence, it was persistence that taught Dora music. “Music was the most valuable thing that Papa gave me” said Dora later in life. Dora continued to learn from Mrs. Kattie at the famous McCune School of Music on north Main Street.
From her vocal lesson training, Dora was selected as the second lead on the Rosevelt Jr. High Operetta. It was a great highlight in her life and it gave her the confidence in her musical abilities.
Ralph and Elma’s boy friend Roy would be waiting for Dora and Elma as they walked out the south door of East High. Graduation was nearing and Ralph was getting closer to asking the big question. Dora had other opportunities for marriage from others, but her heart was set on Ralph. Although there were difficulties, misunderstandings, and short break-ups. Dora and Ralph finally decided to tie the knot on March 26th of 1929 which at the time Dora was 20 years old.
“Every melody I hear brings back memories of the past, of situations, and of feelings” Dora told us recently. The music that she experienced in her youth, with her friends, and the music that she shared with Ralph. Music always had a deep reverent place in her heart.
Dora and Ralph entered into marriage during one of the greatest crisis of the nation, that is the great Depression of ’29. Work was scarce and money was almost nonexistent, sometimes they were forced to live with Ralph’s parents. Little by little and job by job, they made it through. In the depths of the depression, Dora discovered she was pregnant.
Their first son Wayne was born on a very cold night in January of 1933. The baby did not cry when it was delivered. The Doctor worked on Wayne considerably but was about to give up when he thought life was not there. It was Ralph’s sister Hortence who thought otherwise and persisted that the doctor work harder to bring life into Dora’s first baby boy. And it worked, Wayne took his first breath late on that bitter cold night in January.
Another son Roger was born in 1940 and a year later the Simisters moved to Westminister Ave. At that time 1940 Westminister was considered to be on the out skirts of eastern Salt Lake City. Dora distinctively remembers looking off across the empty hay fields at the traffic on 21st south four blocks away. It seemed that they were on the edge of no where.
Next, two daughters came into the home of Ralph and Dora, Deanna in 1945 and Renae in 1947. Ralph struggled with his new sign painting business and money was tight. This is when Dora considered teaching piano to give the family a little extra income. Robby Werner, the little boy next door was her first student.
The Teacher
Dora’s musical training now started to come forth, she soon realized that she had a deep compassion to teach her precious gift to others. It was as though her purpose in life was to pass on her passion and love for music. Either young or old, it made no difference, Dora was ready and willing to sit down side by side on the piano or the organ bench and teach her simple music methods.
Dora’s student list grew longer, Ralph’s work became more steady, the kids were getting bigger, and soon Dora had her eyes set on a better home for her family. In 1956 the Simisters moved into a new residence at 1445 Downington Ave. Dora was glad she moved - “It gave me a new breath of life - and it has two bathrooms”! She exclaimed. One by one the kids moved off to begin their own lives and soon Ralph and Dora were alone. Then Ralph started having heart problems, on a beautiful September day in 1971 he left Dora. She was devastated, bewildered, and alone for the first time in their 42 years of marriage.
In her lonely retirement years that followed Dora found the companionship of Rulon Anderson, this is what she needed and we’re sure Ralph would agree. Rulon and Dora traveled to Mexico and Hawaii frequently and worked together on rental properties. They were happily married for almost 20 years until he died in 1995. Afterward Dora moved into her Panorama Apartment on Hillside Ave. She loved her little apartment. It reminded her so much of the little Kimball apartment she and Ralph shared together the first month of their marriage. “For once in my life I now have the time to do what I have always wanted” She told her children. The apartment gave her the freedom and the time to pursue the publication of her music teaching methods.
While the apartment gave Dora the freedom from home ownership, she admitted that she missed her backyard on Downington Ave. Dora loved to cultivate her flower garden and you would find her there just about every evening watering or pulling weeds. Her flowers gave her the peace she needed, it was her time with nature and with God. Dora always thought that there is more to life than just this life. She mentioned many times that her little spirit would someday fly away and would enter another little body.
And so it was on February 7th, 2002 that we lost this little spirit, she left and went on. We will miss her greatly. The world will miss her but her legacy lives on. We will remember her from the musical talent passed on to her family and friends. We will remember her from every song that brings back happy memories. As her cousin Erma Robinson wished Dora from her dying bed so many years before, “Dora, I wish you’ll have a full and wonderful life”. That she did Erma, that she did.
In the age of the horse and buggy, where roads were not much more than dusty trails stretching through the prairies and small towns. Dora was born in the small town of Pleasant Grove to John Franklin Thorne and his wife Lilly Holdaway-- the era was 1908.
Page Modified: June 10, 2002