Dori Evelyn Born

Delores Evelyn (Dori) Born, 96, died peacefully at Aberdeen Village on November 14, 2023.  Born on July 25, 1927, in Grafton, North Dakota, Dori started life in unique fashion – riding home from the hospital in the sidecar of her dad’s motorcycle.  She was raised on a small farm near Niagara, North Dakota, along with five siblings.  In addition to cooking for the summer field hands, she enjoyed softball, basketball and figure skating.  She was an outstanding student and cheerleader at Dahlen High School, from which she graduated in June 1944, three days after D-Day, as valedictorian.  She completed one year of higher education on scholarship at Jamestown College, Jamestown, North Dakota, where she came to know Christ as her Lord and Savior, a relationship which would shape the rest of her life.   

While visiting her grandmother and working as a medical secretary in Walker, Minnesota, Dori met John Emery Born, a handsome sailor home on leave from the Navy.  Dori and John were married in 1948 in Everett, Washington.  A highlight of their early marriage was living in Tel Aviv and assisting in Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of Jewish refugees from Cyprus into the newly created state of Israel. 

When her four children were young, she was a homemaker and a gifted cook, seamstress, organizer and correspondent.  Beginning in 1967, she worked as a church secretary, serving as the sole or senior secretary at Hillcrest Covenant Church, Prairie Village, for 25 years.  After retiring in 1993, Dori volunteered at Menorah Medical Center, where she worked in the Patient Services Library for a number of years. 

Dori possessed a keen mind and a thirst for knowledge.  Whatever her children studied, she learned as well.  From medicine to law, music to computers, Dori absorbed it all.  An avid and wide-ranging reader, she especially enjoyed historical novels. 

Dori was passionate about Christian missions work, particularly Abigail House, a ministry co-founded by her eldest daughter and named for her late granddaughter, which provides spiritual, psychological and practical support for missionaries internationally.  She shepherded the ministry from its inception through the process of becoming a tax-exempt international organization, kept the books and provided logistical support until she was no longer able.   In addition to Abigail House, she gave her time and substance to numerous charities and missions.  Through the work she supported, Dori met people from all over the world and loved connecting those with common interests.  Where she saw a need, she found a creative way to help.  Perhaps her greatest talent was in anticipating needs and filling them before the need became acute.   

Exemplifying Christian servanthood, she was always frugal with herself and with others' resources.  At Hillcrest, Dori reused every scrap of paper and found ingenious ways of making do on a limited budget.  As a child of the Great Depression, growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Dori knew the value of things that could not be easily replaced and developed a skill for improvising solutions without costly tools.  Dori’s talent for organizing is legendary; it is generally agreed by those who know her best, that by now she has heaven organized and is actively looking for another project.  Every organization she served and every person she knew was blessed by her practical efficiency, zealous devotion and loving care. 

We rejoice that she is now resting from her labors in the loving arms of her Heavenly Father. 

Dori is preceded in death by her husband John Emery Born, children Stephen J. and Roger L. Born, and granddaughter Abigail Rae McConnell.  Survivors include daughter Wendy McConnell, M.D., of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Brian J. Born of Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Nancy K. Achord (Stephen) of Shawnee, Kansas; eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren with a tenth due in March; and numerous honorary children and grandchildren.   

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m., on Friday, December 1, 2023, at Hillcrest Covenant Church, 8801 Nall Avenue, Prairie Village, Kansas.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests gifts to Abigail Ministries c/o Ad Astra