Farnum, Dorothy

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 7902
• Obituary: 1 Jul 2012; Appleton Post Crescent

Notes:

Obituary:
Dorothy (Dot) Farnum Buesing, 85, formerly of Appleton, Wis., passed away peacefully from heart failure in Arlington, Texas, on June 23, 2012. She was born to the late Harriet and Bill Farnum on May 22, 1927 in Appleton, Wis. She graduated from Appleton High School in 1945 and earned a B.S. in Sociology from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, in 1949. Dot married Ralph Buesing, a Lawrence College athlete and World War II veteran in 1950. After enjoying many years as a homemaker and loving mom, she worked as a market researcher and assistant in the offices of Drs. Jack Anderson and Bob Johnson. She was a member of Riverview Country Club and was a founding member of the Basement Theater. She enjoyed racing her sailboat with the the Neenah Nodawy Yacht Club. She obtained a real estate sales license and worked for a time with the Ruth Bohl Agency.
Following her divorce in 1979, Dot worked for several years for the Institute of Human Design, a research firm in Oshkosh. In 1982, she moved to La Crosse, Wis., to live with her daughter's family and work for the Hmong Community Association assisting refugees from Laos.
Later that year she moved to San Antonio to rejoin her daughter's family. She worked for Santa Rosa Medical Center as an administrative assistant for community outreach. After turning 65 in 1992, she moved to Seminole, Fla., where for 11 years she assisted her mother who lived to age 99. During those years, Dot also worked part-time at Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit as a researcher. She was forced to retire at age 78 in 2005, when a mosquito bite led to a near-fatal case of West Nile Virus -induced polio. Through much grit, determination and physical therapy she worked her way back from almost total paralysis, to using a wheelchair, a walker, a cane and finally to walking independently. By 2009, she had recovered enough to move into the home of her daughter in Arlington, Texas, where she continued to enjoy such lifelong pleasures as reading, Scrabble, crossword puzzles, yoga, current events, and classical music.
She is survived by children, Natalie (Buesing) Sunde and Robert Buesing; son-in-law, Thomas Sunde; daughter-in-law, Karen Buesing; grandchildren, Stephanie (Sunde) Younts, Scott Sunde, Robert Buesing Jr., and Juliet Buesing; brothers, Randall and wife, Barb, Daniel and wife, Carol, and Keith Farnum; stepbrother, Melvin Osinga and wife, Betty; great-grandaughter, Ella Younts and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her stepsister, Lillian Krug.
Visitation for friends and family will be Saturday, Sept. 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Wichmann Funeral Home/Tri-County Chapel, 3212 South Oneida St., Menasha, Wis. A private family interment will be Sunday, Sept. 2. in De Pere, Wis. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Sierra Club, Heifer International, Salvation Army, YMCA or the charity of your choice in her memory.
Published in Appleton Post-Crescent on July 1, 2012

Dorothy married Buesing, Ralph Abt 1950; divorced Abt 1979. Ralph was born 8 Apr 1924; died 7 Jul 2018, Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]