Obituary of Dorothy Elizabeth Wiley

She lived in a ghost town, became a nurse specializing in pediatric care, was a die-hard Anglophile, had a passion for gardening (her specialty: roses and rhododendrons) and met her future husband on the Oregon coast. On October 13, 2018 at 2 a.m. Dorothy E. Wiley lost her life to longevity. She was born on July 15, 1924 in the small Vancouver Island town of Nanaimo, BC, Canada. She died 94 years young in Portland, Oregon. As a child of the Depression, Dorothy’s father was offered a job to oversee a small abandoned mining town in Granby, B.C. The only residents were Dorothy, her parents, her sister, Elinor and their dog, Scout. She would always declare that the best years of her young life were spent living in a “GHOST” town. Dorothy attended the Royal Jubilee Nursing School in Victoria, B.C where she graduated as a registered nurse. She started her nursing career in Vancouver, B.C., then in 1948, she immigrated to the United States and accepted a position with Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon. She worked as the head nurse in the hospital’s pediatric burn unit. Throughout her long life, she would repeatedly declare, “I loved working with these children who had experienced excruciating injuries yet never complained and were always so loving and grateful for the care we gave to help heal their wounds.” In 1949, while on a date with another man, Dorothy met her future husband, David C. Wiley, M.D. They met in September and were married in November. In 1991, she lost her husband of over 40 years to colon cancer. She would say, “We had a very short courtship that turned into a long wonderful marriage.” Dorothy held leadership positions in several organizations, most notably P.E.O, the Daughter of the British Empire, Tuality Community Hospital Auxiliary Guild, All Saints Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, Oregon and St. James Episcopal Church in Tigard. She loved playing golf, going cross-country skiing and being part of the outdoors. She loved traveling back home to Vancouver Island and looked forward to her family reunion trips to Sunriver, Oregon. She was an avid gardener who dearly loved the beauty of the Pacific NW. She is survived by her four children, Robin (Paula), Sue Klamert (Ron), Annette Quirk (Tom), and Christopher; 6 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Private memorial services for Dorothy will be held at a later date in Sunriver, Oregon. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations on behalf of Dorothy may be made to: Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation Mail Stop 45 PO Box 4000 Portland, OR 97208-9852 If giving by check, in the memo line, please write “in memory of Dorothy E. Wiley supporting Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. To give online, go to: https://www.onwardohsu.org/donation