IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Dorsey Robbins
Looney
October 1, 1933 – January 24, 2011
Obituary
Delores "Dorsey" Robbins Looney, 77
Funeral services for Delores "Dorsey" Robbins Looney, 77, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, January 28, 2011 at the First Christian Church in Gainesville, MO with the Rev. Bobby Jo Wade officiating. Visitation will be Thursday evening from 5-7 p.m. at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville, MO. Burial will be in the Lilly Ridge Cemetery.
She died Monday, Jan. 24, 2011, at Cox South Medical Center in Springfield, MO.
She was a member of the First Christian Church.
Mrs. Looney was born Oct. 1, 1933, at her family's home in Mammoth, MO, the first of Sanford and Gertie Sowards Robbins' nine children - eight daughters and one son. At age 5, she started first grade at the Faye School, where her aunt, Cuma Robbins, was the teacher. A few weeks later her family moved to California, looking for work.
She attended school in Portola and Delleker, Calif., throughout her school years but made some extended visits to see family back in Ozark County, riding the train from California to Missouri with her mother and siblings.
Although she spent almost all of her school years in California, she wanted to graduate from Gainesville High School. She came back here in the summer before her senior year; on July 9, 1951, she married Marvin Looney, an Ozark County native she had met the year before when he visited his brother in California. She graduated from GHS in 1952.
The next year, her parents and siblings moved back here from California, and her father and uncle, Jimmy Robbins, began operating the boat dock on Bull Shoals Lake at Pontiac. Mrs. Looney and her husband worked there part-time as needed in addition to Marv's teaching and coaching duties at GHS.
His teaching career took them to Forsyth briefly then back to Gainesville in 1957. They bought the Rod and Gun resort at Pontiac and operated it, in addition to Marv's teaching duties at GHS, until 1959, when they moved to Fayetteville, Ark., where Marv pursued a doctorate in educational administration.
By the time he graduated in 1962, the Looneys had three sons: Doug, Bill and Chris.
During the next 28 years, Marv's jobs in college instruction and administration took them to Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg; Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Mich.; what is now Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio; Missouri Western University in St. Joseph; and the University of Alaska in Anchorage. In 1990 they settled permanently into the vacation home they had built in Pontiac in 1970; from there, Marv commuted to his job as chancellor of the Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) campus in West Plains until retiring in 1998.
In her role as "first lady" of several college campuses, Mrs. Looney hosted elaborate and creative dinners and also volunteered for numerous community organizations including hospitals and churches. She enjoyed a wide variety of artistic crafts, gardening and also participated in a nationally sanctioned program to band and study hummingbirds.
She and her husband enjoyed traveling together throughout the country and to many foreign countries. But despite her extensive travels, she liked nothing more than being at home AT THE LAKE SURROUNDED BY HER SONS AND THEIR FAMILIES. She also especially loved activities with her sisters and brother.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Darlene Beard and Anita Lewis.
She is survived by her husband, of the home; three sons, Doug Looney and wife Ronee, Castle Rock, Colo., Bill Looney and wife Sandy, Pontiac, and Chris Looney and wife Kate, St. Joseph; seven granddaughters and one step-grandson; five great-grandchildren; one brother, Carl Robbins and wife Lorene, Kansas City, Kans.; five sisters, Sandra Millstead, Springfield, Brenda Harter and husband Ron, Billings, Mary Kyle and husband Jim, Gainesville, Judy Johnson and husband Fred, Ozark and Becky Walker and husband George, Dora.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society and or to the American Red Cross.
Funeral services are under the care and direction of Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville, MO.
Funeral services for Delores "Dorsey" Robbins Looney, 77, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, January 28, 2011 at the First Christian Church in Gainesville, MO with the Rev. Bobby Jo Wade officiating. Visitation will be Thursday evening from 5-7 p.m. at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville, MO. Burial will be in the Lilly Ridge Cemetery.
She died Monday, Jan. 24, 2011, at Cox South Medical Center in Springfield, MO.
She was a member of the First Christian Church.
Mrs. Looney was born Oct. 1, 1933, at her family's home in Mammoth, MO, the first of Sanford and Gertie Sowards Robbins' nine children - eight daughters and one son. At age 5, she started first grade at the Faye School, where her aunt, Cuma Robbins, was the teacher. A few weeks later her family moved to California, looking for work.
She attended school in Portola and Delleker, Calif., throughout her school years but made some extended visits to see family back in Ozark County, riding the train from California to Missouri with her mother and siblings.
Although she spent almost all of her school years in California, she wanted to graduate from Gainesville High School. She came back here in the summer before her senior year; on July 9, 1951, she married Marvin Looney, an Ozark County native she had met the year before when he visited his brother in California. She graduated from GHS in 1952.
The next year, her parents and siblings moved back here from California, and her father and uncle, Jimmy Robbins, began operating the boat dock on Bull Shoals Lake at Pontiac. Mrs. Looney and her husband worked there part-time as needed in addition to Marv's teaching and coaching duties at GHS.
His teaching career took them to Forsyth briefly then back to Gainesville in 1957. They bought the Rod and Gun resort at Pontiac and operated it, in addition to Marv's teaching duties at GHS, until 1959, when they moved to Fayetteville, Ark., where Marv pursued a doctorate in educational administration.
By the time he graduated in 1962, the Looneys had three sons: Doug, Bill and Chris.
During the next 28 years, Marv's jobs in college instruction and administration took them to Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg; Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Mich.; what is now Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio; Missouri Western University in St. Joseph; and the University of Alaska in Anchorage. In 1990 they settled permanently into the vacation home they had built in Pontiac in 1970; from there, Marv commuted to his job as chancellor of the Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) campus in West Plains until retiring in 1998.
In her role as "first lady" of several college campuses, Mrs. Looney hosted elaborate and creative dinners and also volunteered for numerous community organizations including hospitals and churches. She enjoyed a wide variety of artistic crafts, gardening and also participated in a nationally sanctioned program to band and study hummingbirds.
She and her husband enjoyed traveling together throughout the country and to many foreign countries. But despite her extensive travels, she liked nothing more than being at home AT THE LAKE SURROUNDED BY HER SONS AND THEIR FAMILIES. She also especially loved activities with her sisters and brother.
She was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Darlene Beard and Anita Lewis.
She is survived by her husband, of the home; three sons, Doug Looney and wife Ronee, Castle Rock, Colo., Bill Looney and wife Sandy, Pontiac, and Chris Looney and wife Kate, St. Joseph; seven granddaughters and one step-grandson; five great-grandchildren; one brother, Carl Robbins and wife Lorene, Kansas City, Kans.; five sisters, Sandra Millstead, Springfield, Brenda Harter and husband Ron, Billings, Mary Kyle and husband Jim, Gainesville, Judy Johnson and husband Fred, Ozark and Becky Walker and husband George, Dora.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society and or to the American Red Cross.
Funeral services are under the care and direction of Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville, MO.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Dorsey Robbins Looney, please visit our flower store.
Dorsey Robbins Looney's Guestbook
Visits: 0
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors