Dorothy Alice Vanhorn

Dorothy Vanhorn was born in Boulder Colorado in 1923 to Nellie Pence-Phelps and Richard Phelps. She also had a sister Shirley. She remembered earning money with her sister by picking cherries. When they moved to Casper her mother Nellie opened a beauty shop called the Aladdin. She also worked in her mother's beauty shop. Her father Richard opened the Orthopedic Brace. Dorothy and Fred Vanhorn knew each other since Jackson street, she was 6years old and he was 9 years old. They were also high school sweethearts.

She graduated in 1942 and Fred joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor. Dorothy went to secretarial school & worked in Chicago. They both went to San Diego and she married Walter Frederic Vanhorn at the Navy Chapel in 1943. Son Donald Fredrick was born in 1944 and daughter Beverly Ann was born in 1948.

Fred's parents May Cantrell-Vanhorn and Walter O. Vanhorn built the Central Wyoming Sales Pavilion. Dorothy worked keeping track of livestock sales and paper work.

May and Walter also built the Wagon Wheel Roller Skating in 1946, it burned to the ground March 21, 1955 and was rebuilt in 1956. The Wagon Wheel was the event center for the Casper Area. Dorothy taught school skating and scouts. Dorothy and Fred ran the Rink from 1970 until 1995 when Beverly began running it. Dorothy and family held many MDA Skate-a-thons to help raise thousands of dollars for Muscular Dystrophy. Dorothy also enjoyed calling the square dances when the Wagon Wheel had Saturday dances. Dorothy and Fred enjoyed dancing. Mom had many stories to tell. Little Jimmy Dickens, a headliner in those days, finished playing. He stood there in his fancy rhinestone outfit and asking if he could do anything to help clean up. Surprised, she gave him an apron. He put on the apron and grabbed a broom and danced away singing.

Dorothy and Fred were members of the Mills Mountain View Lions Club.

Dorothy and Fred built a new cabin in the same place as the homestead. They cut all the loges and together stripped the bark. Then chinking and finishing with help from other family.

Some of the things she enjoyed doing are: singing in Sweet Adelines. Toast Masters International public speaking. Coin collecting, creating and sewing costumes such as 10ft. Roller Rabbit, Disco Duck, Rink Rat and many more the rink used for birthday parties and parades. Raising and selling Grandpa Fred Cantrell's parakeets. Grooming poodles, creating holiday meals for family. Not surprise, she was also an excellent artist.

She also enjoyed traveling to National Parks, Mexico and Hawaii. Hunting camps were fun, the freezer was always full. There wasn't a week we didn't go fishing.

The thing she enjoyed the most was people. She liked to listen and come up with new ideas to entertain. She always had a story to tell.

Dorothy is survived by her son; Donald (Thelma) Vanhorn and their children and grandchildren, daughter; Beverly (Larry) Vanhorn-Lunt and their children and grandchildren, nephew Skip (Mary) Hoffman, niece Laura (Bill) Britton and cousin Betty Shaw.

Please come to the Rink Monday December 13th. We would love to hear your story!




To share your memories of Dorothy or leave a special condolence message for her family, please visit the guestbook below.