Dorothy Mae Kuban Stoppenbach

Dorothy Mae (Kuban) Stoppenbach (Miss Dot) was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1937 to George and Rose Kuban.  After being double promoted and graduating at the age of 16, Dorothy was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Chicago that she was unable to accept, as her father thought it unsuitable for a young girl to attend school with older college boys.  After supporting herself through secretarial night school, Dorothy began working as a legal secretary in Chicago, where she met and married the love of her life, army veteran Roy Stoppenbach.  Dorothy balanced life as a wife, a mom, and a working professional. When Roy’s job in international sales required world travel, Dorothy accompanied him and also helped provide American hospitality to his international clients. As believers in the power of education, Dorothy and Roy sent their sons Roy Stoppenbach (electrical engineer) and Raymond Stoppenbach (airline captain) to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

 In 1984, Dorothy and Roy “ran away from home” to reinvent themselves as proprietors of Mill Creek Landing, a fishing and camping resort on Lake Marion in Vance, South Carolina.  After Roy’s death in 1989, Dorothy sold the resort and began her last informal career as an advocate and notary public, freely lending her business and legal expertise to her neighbors and family to help negotiate bureaucratic tangles, consumer disputes, and even to marry couples in her capacity as a South Carolina notary public.  Dorothy passed peacefully on May 22 at MUSC Orangeburg after a bout with cancer. Dorothy is preceded in death by her sister Marilyn Mendera (survived by her brother-in-law Joe), and also survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Roy and Roberta Stoppenbach and Raymond and Linda Stoppenbach. She is also survived by her seven grandchildren Cheryl Patel, Erica Reynolds, Adelle Reynolds, Rebekah Davis, Mary Rose Stoppenbach, Jack Stoppenbach and Ryan Stoppenbach, and seven great-grandchildren Giavanna, Joe, D’Angelo, Robert, Leo, Arlo, and Jaiden. Dorothy also had many nephews and nieces who loved Aunt Dorothy and was also dearly loved by dozens of close friends and neighbors. 

The family will receive friends Friday, May 31, 2024 from 10-12PM at Avinger Funeral Home with a memorial service to following at 12PM in the chapel of Avinger Funeral Home.

 In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations for Grace Home at Hebron Colony Ministries, Inc., at P.O. Box 407, Santee, SC 29142  (www.hebroncolony.org) or to the Salvation Army, P.O. 958, Orangeburg, SC 29116-0958.