2/21/1934 – 12/17/2024
Lawrence
Dorthea Ann Johnson Henkel, 90 years old, of Lawrence, Kansas, passed away on December 17, 2024, of natural causes after being in hospice care for over 3 years.
Dottie, as she was known, was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on February 21, 1934, the daughter of Homer and Irene Johnson. Dottie graduated from Milligan High School in1952, where she was a cheerleader all four years. She moved with her family to Bird City, Kansas, where she met and married her husband, John LeRoy Henkel in 1954. They lived there until 1958 when they moved to Lawrence, Kansas. They were married for 49 years before “Jack” passed away in 2003. They had a daughter, Cassandra Ann in 1967.
Over the years, Dottie worked as a supervisor at Hallmark for 20 years, a home terminal agent for National Trailer Convoy for 5 years, and an attendance clerk for Lawrence and Free State High Schools for 20 years after which she retired in 2003.
Dottie liked boating, camping, baking, and gardening. Her favorite pastime was reading. She loved flowers in various shades of purple including lilacs, irises, and violets. She enjoyed various arts and crafts including rock polishing, jewelry making, seed art, latch hook, and plastic canvas needle point. She and her husband started a kennel, Havenwood Acres, and raised Samoyed huskies for 10 years. Over the years, she liked going to flea markets and collected rabbit and slipper figurines, anything with apples, and various patterns of depression glass. In later years, while living at Wyndam Place, she enjoyed watching the Jayhawks, Royals, and Chiefs games with other residents.
Dottie was a member of Corpus Christi parish and before that a member of St. John’s parish. She volunteered as a Girl Scout Leader and cookie mom for 8 years and was the director of the local girl scout camp for 2 summers.
Dottie will be remembered as kind, sweet, and generous to strangers and animals alike. She would often make extra food for students in need and would always be feeding a stray cat or two. While still at her home of 45 years, she had a variety of pets including 9 cats and 10 dogs with the last one being her precious maltipoo, Toby, who passed away this fall at the age of 17 and half years old.
Remaining to cherish Dorthea’s memory are daughter, Cassandra “Cassie” Henkel Shonfelt (John); granddaughters, Nicole Shonfelt and Samantha Favazza (Daniel); and nieces, Tara Bowers and Lisa Wilcox (Owen) and family and several nieces and nephews from her husband’s family including Lana Leslie (Gary) and family, Nyla Kimmett (Dan) and family, Randy Collins (Theresa) and family, Donna Mentock (Jim), Chuck Sherman, and Tara Palajac (Bill) and family.
Preceding Dorthea in death are husband, John “Jack” LeRoy Henkel; parents, Charles Homer Johnson and Josephine Irene (Heid) Johnson, and beloved sister, Kay Louise (Johnson) Bowers Fowler who passed away on December 8, 2024.
Services for Dottie will be held on Friday, January 3, 2025, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Visitation will begin at 10:00am, with a rosary at 10:30am, followed by funeral mass at 11:00am with Father Jerry Volz officiating. Interment will be later in the spring at Calvary Cemetery in Beaver Crossing, Nebraska.
Services will be streamed and can be viewed at https://www.cccparish.org/pray-with-us/livestream-liturgies
Memorial donations in Dottie’s memory may be directed to Lawrence Meals on Wheels (LMOW), 2121 Kasold, Suite B, Lawrence, KS 66047 or online at https://www.lawrencemow.org/donate/. To leave a message for Dottie’s family, please visit www.Rumsey-Yost.com.
Note: The Lawrence Times is offering Lawrence and Douglas County community members space to publish remembrances of loved ones who lived in this community, free of charge. These pieces are submitted by family and friends of the deceased and not written by our staff. Photos are also provided to the publication, and some may have been altered prior to submission. Read more obituaries here.
We are honored to be able to offer this service free to community members in mourning. We believe the last thing our neighbors need in those difficult moments is another financial matter to worry about. Please support the Times to help us continue providing this service — and news access — for all.
To submit an obituary to The Lawrence Times, please fill out the form at this link. We’re sorry, but we cannot accept obituary submissions via email or other means.
Receive obituaries via email
As of May 2026, we are launching a newsletter that will include obituaries only. Obituaries will no longer appear in our daily emails. You can sign up below to receive any and all of our emails. If you already receive our daily, weekly and/or occasional emails and you want to keep receiving them, please check those boxes as well.
Please make sure you click on the button that says “Yes, subscribe me to this list” in the email you receive or you will not receive future emails. That extra step is to protect you and make sure you’re not getting emails you don’t want.
