‘Verle’ Ashlock, a former Dorothy Dean, died Friday

The woman who served as the head of the Dorothy Dean Homemaker’s Service for The Spokesman-Review in 1947 has died.

Dorothea “Verle” Ashlock died Friday in Kirkland, Wash., according to family members.

Ashlock was born March 1, 1923 on the family farm in Hay, Wash., to John and Verdella Schoeff. She and her four brothers grew up on a farm near Dusty, Wash., and she graduated from LaCrosse High School in 1941.

She attended Washington State College where she got a bachelor’s degree in home economics with a minor in journalism in 1945. One of her professors, Joseph L. Ashlock, would become her father-in-law. She met the professor’s son, Joe, through friends later on and they were married in 1948.

After graduating from college, Ashlock went to work for The Spokesman-Review’s homemaker’s service, giving cooking demonstrations and writing a food column for the newspaper. In 1947, she became Dorothy Dean, the title given to the women who served as the head of the homemaker’s service department.

After she was married, Ashlock worked for Washington State College for several years in the home economics department while her husband finished college. In later years, she worked in the front office of the Citizen Journal in Rosalia. She and her husband owned the business that printed the weekly newspaper for the community from 1953 until his death in 1988.

Her memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Rosalia Methodist Church.