Dorothy Ruth De Frates

Our beloved Mother and sister Dorothy Ruth (Cousins) de Frates entered eternal life on March 9, 2019. Born in Jackson, Michigan, to her parents, Charles and Amelia (Peniston) Cousins on May 20, 1927, as the fourth daughter of six girls, she enjoyed an early life of helping around home, school, playing with her many friends, and going to her small nearby Methodist Church. Influenced by her eldest sister’s illness and death, she obtained her nursing degree from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1951. Then she and four other nurses traveled out to California in a Cadillac Convertible to be delivered upon arrival in Long Beach. Once here, she began working as a nurse at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, and shortly thereafter met Allan Small de Frates, whom she married on October 12, 1951. She is survived by her daughters Cheryl Ann de Gomez and Connie Lynn Doss, and her sons Allan Charles and Ronald Kent, her sister Alice Sturgill, and ten grandchildren. She became a school nurse once her children had entered school and worked at several schools throughout the Long Beach Unified school district. She and Allan had a terrific life together, traveling extensively around the World following retirement. Dorothy also enjoyed her membership in Children’s Benefit League of Long Beach where she had been an active member for twenty-nine years. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Allan, and four sisters. Her loyalty, love and friendship have left an everlasting memory for those of us who called her Mom, Nurse, and Friend. She will be dearly missed by all. Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401