HORES, Dorothy

The Verde Independent, Cottonwood, AZ April 19, 2006 Dorothy Schrum Hores, daughter of Milo and Gwynneth Schrum, was born in New York City in 1926. She died peacefully at her home in Village of Oak Creek, surrounded by family, on April 15, 2006. Dorothy graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1948 with a strong interest in being a composer. She chose to enter the field of education when she discovered that there was "not a big market for women composers." Growing up on the East Coast, Dorothy developed a deep and abiding interest in the ocean, which led her to her later efforts in water conservation. She moved west early in her life seeking an openness that was missing on the East Coast; an openness that quickly became what Dorothy said she loved most about the West. She married and raised her children in the Denver area and became politically active at a time when most women stayed home. Her first campaign to set up an Arapahoe County Library system was successful. She was on the Littleton School Board from 1963 to 1969. In 1969 she finished her master's degree and returned to work, continuing her long-held goal to improve education by serving as a junior high counselor in the Littleton Public Schools. Dorothy was politically active throughout her life, even running as a Democrat for the Colorado Fifth Congressional District in the mid-1970s. For nine years Dorothy served as director of planning and evaluation for the St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont, Colo., from 1980 until 1989. When she reached retirement age, Dorothy left her job but never stopped working to improve the quality of education in America. She was known to say, "Everything is education. Education is what this country is about." Once she came to the Village of Oak Creek "to retire" in 1996, she became active in a wide array of issues. She was a board member of the League of Women Voters, the Responsible Residents of the Red Rocks and was very active in the Big Park Coordinating Council. The management of water in Arizona became a passion of hers. She was a key organizer of the 2001 Water Forum, and launched several other citizen's water campaigns, locally and regionally. A section of the Kiwanis Park in the Village of Oak Creek is named in her honor. She was also a strong supporter of the Sedona Film Festival and several other community concerns. She will be sorely missed by those with whom she worked and by those to whom she contributed. She is survived by her children, Grace Martin of Windsor, Colo., Clif Harald of Boulder, Colo., and Neil Hores of Englewood, Colo. The family requests that donations in Dorothy's name be sent to The Responsible Residents of the Red Rocks, P. O. Box 1655, Sedona AZ 86339, or The American Civil Liberties Union. No services are planned.