Dr. Dorothy Day-Modeland

Dr. Dorothy Day Modeland, daughter of The Reverends Reuel and Zoetta Taylor Foreman departed this life in OKC on June 23, 2025, at the age of 86 years. She was born August 25, 1938, in Pleasant Hill, Kansas, where her parents were ministers in the Assembly of God Church. They later established the Assembly of God Church in Rich Hill, Missouri.

Dorothy started her college career as a musician. She played the piano, oboe, trumpet, clarinet and flute. After her freshman year, she changed her major to Spanish and continued this effort until she earned her Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Missouri. She then went to South America and taught school for five years before returning to the states. She continued to teach at the college level in Tennessee, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. She started her fifteen-year teaching career at Northwestern Oklahoma State University on September 1, 1988. While at NWOSU, she created the Spanish lab, and the Dorothy Day Scholarship Fund was established and continues to support students today.

In retirement, Dorothy moved to McAllen, Texas to be near her friend Ruth Martin, a former colleague at NWOSU. Dorothy was a devoted Christian who studied the Bible every day of her life. Most of all, she enjoyed teaching Sunday School classes. She also taught English as a second language on Sunday afternoons. Additionally, she volunteered to teach young students daily at the Institute in Edinburg, Texas.

On November 30, 2013, she married Dr. Owen Modeland, a former NWOSU Professor, in Oklahoma City at the Chapel Hill Methodist Church.

Dorothy is survived by her husband, Dr. Owen Modeland, her son Jerry and wife Rebecca and her son David and wife Billie, and their families. Also, stepdaughters, Gloria Winter, Sheila Gilchrist and husband Jim, Julie Fuson, and Joy Minton and husband Richard and their families.

The funeral service will be held Thursday, July 3, 2025, at 2 pm at Smith & Kernke N. May Chapel. A graveside service will be held Saturday, July 5 at 2 pm at Sheldon Cemetery in Sheldon, MO.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dorothy Day Scholarship Fund, NWOSU, Alva, OK 73717.