Betty Marguerite Dollinger

Betty Marguerite Dollinger, age 100, of Lanark, IL, passed away in her home with her family by her side on March 11, 2025. A private family service will be held and burial will take place at Lanark Cemetery.

Betty was born March 6, 1925, in Englewood, CA, the daughter of Robert and Irma (Rowland) Lower. Her family moved to Lanark at a very young age, and she graduated from Lanark High School with the class of 1943. During her high school years she met Ned Dollinger, and in 1943, the night before he left for basic training with the United States Army, the two were married in Chicago.

Following Ned’s completion of basic training, Betty joined him at Fort Monroe, VA, where they resided for three years. The young couple then moved back to Lanark and purchased Betty’s parents house, where they would reside for the rest of their lives.

Betty worked at the U.S. Army supply depot at Fort Monroe during Ned’s years in the service, and worked for a local telephone company for a few years, in Lanark, and when Ned started a tree farm in 1956, Betty was instrumental to the operations of that business. But most importantly and most suitably, she was a homemaker. A natural “home-body”, Betty was a lovely mother and an attentive wife. She cherished time spent with her family and showed her love through her cooking and baking. Famous for her pies, she’d bake them regularly so that Ned always had fresh dessert; never more than a day old.

Betty will be dearly missed by her son John (Janie) Dollinger, of Shannon, IL; daughter, Jill Gaar, of Ennis, MT; two grandsons, Tim Gaar, of Ennis, MT, and Mark (Shanna) Dollinger, of Lanark; and great grandsons, Cooper and Maddex. Betty is preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Irma; husband, Ned; and a sister (infant).