Dorothy Menke was born on September 22, 1908 to William J. and Elizabeth Mertens Menke in Salem, Iowa. Dorothy is the cousin of Cletus Fritag who married Walt’s 1st cousin once removed Delores Wellman.

Dorothy’s parents had a farm near St. James where she grew up. She was one of nine children. In the 1930 census, you can see her listed with her parents and seven of her siblings about half way down the page.

On September 14, 1932, Dorothy Menke married Robert Steffensmeier. They were married in St John’s Church in Houghton, Iowa.

Robert is also related to Walt’s family. His sister Theresa married Ben Brune, Walt’s second cousin once removed. I covered Ben’s parents in this post.

By 1950, Dorothy and Robert were living in Cedar Falls, where Robert was part owner of a hardware and auto parts business. They had tree children at the time.

At some point, they moved to California. Dorothy died in Newport Beach on October 4th, 1980.