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A message from Tom Odetto, Dorothy's brother.
Dorothy, or " Babe " is how we addressed her, had been living with my Mom for the past several years due to poor health. Babe has a son, Mike, who is 45 years old and a daughter, Caroline, who is 42 years of age. They are both healthy and are gainfiully employed. Both of them were very involved in Babe's life. They took good care of her and made sure she got out of the house on a regular basis. Sadly Babe suffered from brain cancer and it had been hard for her to get around during the past five years.
But on a positive note, Babe was the oldest Odetto child and I was very close to her thru out our lifetime. She taught me how to dance when I was a little boy and I remember going all over Marin County with her during her Marin Catholic days. I remember Babe telling me that her friends and times at M.C. were some of the happiest days of her life.
Tom Odetto
tao367@moviefan.com
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Suzanne Helms (Yanok)
Dorothy "Babe" Odetto was one of us Sleepy Hollowites. She lived one road up from me about 4 houses down from Pat Smith and up on the hill behind Mary Arata though Babe stuck to herself and didn't hang out. She lived in a huge two-story house built right next to the road. A kid's face was in every window, there were so many Odettos. It was hard for me to call another girl "Babe" but that was the one thing she was insistent about and I got used to it. I think it was her Dad who named her Babe because she was the eldest.I didn't go to grammar school with her but Mary Arata did. In high school I don't know how she got to school because she wasn't in the S. H. carpool. Every afternoon, she'd take the bus home and walk the mile+ up Butterfield into S.H. When I was driving, I'd offer her a ride but she would shyly turn it down. When Mary, Pat and I and sometimes June Chisholm had to take the bus home then walk that mile+, Babe would trail behind us, too shy. The only times she'd come up to me and talk was if I had to take the bus alone and then she'd walk with me and speak as though we were the best of friends. She always seemed to go home alone every school afternoon.
But something must have happened with Babe during the summer of '59 because when school started, she was a new person, animated, happy and outgoing. She loved going out and had a boyfriend (maybe from Drake) who drove her around on the afternoons. She made life a party for all her friends around her. She was in her element.
Hopefully another classmate will come along and add personality to Babe.
Shocked and sorry to learn you're gone-no one should have to go the way you did, Babe. Fortitude.
Suzanne Helms Yanok