Dorothea “Dot” Kowalke, 91, of Omaha, died peacefully on October 9, 2026.
Born in 1935 in Grand Island, she came to Omaha to study teaching and spent 34 years in the same second-grade classroom. Former students still stopped her at the grocery store decades later, and she greeted every one of them by name, often with their middle name too.
She read three books a week until her last month, kept a garden that fed half the block and wrote letters by hand to anyone who would write back. Her husband died in 2009; she spoke to him every morning anyway.
She is survived by two sons, five grandchildren and the many children she taught to read.
Memorial service
Saturday, 2pm, in the Vossler chapel, led by celebrant Lorcan Haldane. Former students are warmly invited to share a memory. Cremation has taken place.
Memorials
In place of flowers, please give a book to a school library.
