Pearl E. Dearth

PEARL E. DEARTH WEAVERVILLE - Pearl Elizabeth Bixler Dearth, 94, died on October 24, 2016. Pearl was born on August 30, 1922, in Middletown, OH, the second child of William Lee Bixler and Eva Ann Mix. Her father was a master mason; her mother a housewife. Both were from New Orleans, LA. Growing up in Ashland, KY, and Chillicothe, OH, Pearl graduated Chillicothe High School with the class of 1941. With the US entry into World War II, Pearl worked as a civilian employee of the War Department, serving as secretary to the commander of the Army Air Forces Air Transport Command at Wright Field, now Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, OH. Returning to Chillicothe after the war at the end of 1945, she later married CHS classmate and Army Air Corps veteran Henry A. Dearth, Jr. In 1947, Pearl gave birth to their only child, Douglas. During the 1950s-1970s, Pearl variously worked as secretary for the Ross County Extension Service and Chillicothe Public Schools, and as teller for the Savings Bank Co. In 1972, Pearl and Hank moved to Louisville, KY, where he was transferred by the Veterans’ Administration as Director of Public Information and Volunteer Services. With Hank’s retirement from the VA in 1979, they moved to Sarasota, FL; and Pearl was able to increasingly turn to her artistic interest in oil and watercolor painting. In 2006, she moved to Weaverville, to be near family. Pearl was predeceased by her parents, her husband of 40 years in 1986, her sister Dorothy and brother Bill months apart in 2006, and daughter-in-law Maura Lohman in 2015. She is survived by her son, Doug, of Weaverville; as well as grandson Colin, Colin’s wife Laura, and great-granddaughters Colleen, Lauren and Sarah of Columbus, OH. Her ashes will be placed with Hank’s at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.