Dorothy Janet Croll

Dorothy Janet Croll (née Mahnke), joined her Savior at the eternal celebration feast on November 11, 2024.  She was 93 years old.  Dot was born December 19, 1930, in Racine, Wisconsin, to Harvey and Margaret (Frommholz) Mahnke.  The middle of five children, Dot grew up near the Lake Michigan beach.  As a teenager, she worked at the small lunch counter of the corner drug store and babysat the children of friends and family.  She attended St. John’s Lutheran School, was a member of the first class to graduate from Racine Lutheran High School, and attended Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois.   In response to the growing demand for teachers in the Lutheran school system, Dot took summer classes and graduated college in two years.  She was then hired to teach a multi-grade class at First Lutheran School in Towson, Maryland.  While teaching there, two friends introduced Dot to her future husband, Rev. Gilbert Croll, on a blind double-date.  Dot and Gil married in 1958 and raised three children while serving congregations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Michigan.  Following Gil’s retirement from the pastoral ministry, they returned to Maryland to be near their children and their respective families.

Dot was an avid musician who played the organ and piano and sang in a number of choirs, including Baltimore’s Phoenix Choir and Philadelphia’s Singing City Choir, participating in choral performances conducted by Igor Stravinsky at Lincoln Center in New York and accompanied by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music.  Dot loved growing vegetables and flowers, and was a master seamstress, sewing everything from convertible beach towels to complex dresses and jackets.

Dot was preceded in joining the Lord by her parents, siblings, and husband of 50 years.

She is survived by sons Andrew (Clara) Croll and Stephen (Thandi) Croll; daughter Stefanie (John) Kilcullen; grandchildren Nate, Ellen, Lillian, Ben, Elizabeth, Katie, James, and Michael; and great grandchild, Otis.

Visitation will be at Candle Light Funeral Home, 1835 Frederick Rd., Catonsville, MD 21228, on Friday, November 15, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

A funeral service will be held at Emmanual Lutheran Church, 929 Ingleside Ave., Catonsville, MD 21228, on Saturday, November 16, at 11:00 a.m., followed by interment at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, 200 E. Padonia Rd., Timonium, MD 21093.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Concordia Theological Seminary , 6600 N. Clinton St., Fort Wayne, IN 46825.