Biography: Dolores “Dory” J. Schoonhoven Moers, 86, passed away June 4, 2023, at Arkansas Hospice surrounded by her children. She was born in Freeport, Illinois on June 28th, 1936 to Raymond and Leona Schoonhoven and grew up in Forreston. She attended Bradley University Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Peoria graduating as a Registered Nurse in 1958. She began her lifelong nursing service in the OR in Peoria, then briefly as a visiting nurse in Massachusetts, before settling in Hope, Arkansas to continue her career and begin her family. She worked as a Nursing Supervisor at Hope Memorial Hospital for three years before taking a break to raise her young children. Upon returning to work she changed her focus to public health where it would remain for the rest of her career. She worked as a public health nurse in Hempstead and Miller Counties, eventually moving to Little Rock in 1976 to join the Arkansas Department of Health as a Communicable Disease Nurse Specialist and in 1980 as the Tuberculosis Program Consultant. All through her time in public health and while raising three children, she was working toward her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services Administration, beginning in 1974 at East Texas State University in Texarkana and finishing in 1985 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
She was an amazing, independent, determined woman who loved her children and grandchildren fiercely. She will be greatly missed by her three children: Jennifer (Dan) Smith, Patricia (Barry) Brady of Little Rock and Michael (Deanne) Moers of Hoover, Alabama. She has eight grandchildren Zachary (Amber) Overton, Caroline and Camille Smith, Nicholas and Nathan Brady, Davis, Anna and Laney Moers, and one great grandchild Noah Overton. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Carol Hamon of Town of Rome, Wisconsin.
A gathering of friends and family will be held on Monday, June 12 at Ruebel Funeral Home from 4:30-6:30 pm. The Arkansas Nurses Honor Guard will be present to honor Dory at 5:00 All are welcome. Donations may be sent in her memory to Alzheimer’s Arkansas or Central Arkansas Pet Partners. Arrangements are under the direction of Ruebel Funeral Home.