FLY CREEK – With great sorrow, we share the news that our family matriarch, Dorothea “Dorle” Sittler, has passed away at the age of 100 years. Her death, on February 23, 2025, at the Cooperstown Center was peaceful, and we thank the Center and Helios Care for their kind attendance to Dorothea in her last days.
Dorothea was born in the city of Munich, Germany, on August 15, 1924, the beloved daughter of Joseph and Meta (Laue) Balling. To obtain the best education for his daughter, her father secured her attendance at the Grotschule, a progressive girl’s school of national reputation in Pasing, outside Munich. Dorothea matriculated at that school for 5 years, starting at age 10. Fortuitously, she received instruction in the English language. That would serve her well for the rest of her life.
At the age of 15, after the unexpected death of her father, she went to work at Martin Rid, an import company in Munich. After the war, she learned that the American military government was in need of interpreters. She went to work there and met Captain Irving Sittler, who would turn out to be her future husband and the love of her life.
On May 9, 1947, she and Irving married in New York City. They would start a family and in 1956, they relocated from Long Island to a farm on Franklin Mountain, outside Oneonta. They loved their new found rural life and the freedom it gave, but it was difficult to make ends meet. While Irving worked at Bendix in Sidney, he and Dorothea ran the farm until 1973 when Irving retired from his job.
Afterwards, the two of them explored the United States by camper and in 1986, sold the farm. They moved to a house in the Town of Middlefield, where Irving died on July 7, 1993. Dorothea explored the world: Asia, Europe, Africa, Central and South America and the Middle East. Until she was 95, she would drive to the Ocala National Forest and stay in a camper from December to April each year. Together with a circle of likeminded campers, she lived a carefree outdoor existence amongst Ocala’s forests during these trips. Each year, she would return to her home, and mow 2 acres of lawn, maintain her house, and tend to her vegetable and flower gardens. She did this on her own, resisting assistance from family, proud of what she could do.
Finally, at 95, she moved to Keating Road, outside Fly Creek, to live closer to her surviving son, but still cooked her own meals, and did her own laundry, until a month before her death.
Dorle inspired everyone. She was extremely intelligent and her breadth of knowledge and extraordinary abilities were without peer. She possessed the ability to turn adversity to advantage. She was beloved by her family and all who knew her.
She was predeceased in death by her husband and her parents, along with her son Robert. She is survived by her son Lester, and his wife, Karen, her grandchildren Luke (Amanda), Adam (Caitlin), Meghan, and Zachary (Aleah), and her 8 great grandchildren, Hayes, Harper, Millie, Hazel, Aylah, Jack, Laylah, and Maggie. She also leaves numerous cousins and other descendants in Germany.
Burial will occur this spring in the family plot at the Ouleout Valley Cemetery in Franklin. In accordance with her wishes, there will be no funeral service but a celebration of her life will occur at that time.
Dorle loved to swim at Fairy Spring Park until she no longer could. Accordingly, the family requests that any donations in her memory be made to Cooperstown Friends of the Parks, PO Box 1008, Cooperstown NY 13326.
Arrangements are under the care and guidance of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in Cooperstown.
If you would like to send condolences to the family, send an email to Connell, Dow & Deysenroth. We will forward your comments to the family. If you would like to send flowers in memory of the deceased, contact Mohican Flowers at (607) 547-8822, or A Rose is a Rose at (607) 264-3100.
