Dorothy A. Grogan

Dorothy Ann Grogan, the daughter of Thomas R. and Caroline (Hauck) Edelman, was born April 14, 1948, at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota, and died November 26, 2020, at the Audubon County Memorial Hospital in Audubon, Iowa at the age of 72 years, 7 months, and 12 days.

Dorothy was baptized and confirmed at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Yankton. She attended the Yankton community schools, graduating with the High School Class of 1966.

On August 18, 1966, she was united in marriage to Michael Grogan at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Yankton. They were blessed with four sons: Michael, Brian, Brent, and Chris. Mike was in the Air Force, so they moved right away to England Air Force Base in Alexandria, Louisiana. Dorothy worked for a short time at K-Mart. In 1969, Mike was shipped overseas to Korea, so Dorothy returned to Yankton and stayed with her parents and worked for Emtron Electronics. Mike was honorably discharged in 1970 and the family moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. While in Sioux Falls, Dorothy focused her time on raising the children.

In 1980, they moved to Anaheim, California, where Dorothy operated a home day care for a few years. She then worked in customer service at an optical store. While working at the optical store, Dorothy took classes and became a licensed optician. She first was employed at a private doctor’s office and then worked for FHP and later Talbert Medical, with locations in Long Beach, Lake Forrest, and Fullerton, California. Dorothy and Mike moved to Audubon, Iowa in 1999 so they would be closer to her brother, Loren Edelman. Dorothy was employed at CDS in Harlan, Iowa, where she was a computer operator in the customer service department until she retired in 2013.

During retirement, Dorothy and Mike enjoyed traveling around Iowa and Minnesota. They enjoyed camping in their camper, gardening, and taking care of their home. When they moved to Audubon, they became members of the First United Methodist Church in Audubon.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her son, Michael C. Grogan; her parents; her sister, Arlene and husband Ray Wesseln; her brother, Loren and wife Judy Edelman; and her sister-in-law, Cynthia and husband Patrick Kielty.

Survivors include her husband, Michael Grogan of Audubon, Iowa; her sons: Brian T. and wife Diana Grogan and their children Melissa, Samantha, and Adam, all of Huntsville Utah; Brent Grogan of Adelanto, California; and Chris Grogan and significant other Susie Phipps and their sons Ethan and Benton, all of Omaha, Nebraska; her daughter-in-law, Krista Grogan and her son Xane of Kuna, Idaho; her brother-in-law, Paul C. and wife Phyllis Grogan of Lakeville, Minnesota; as well as nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held Saturday, January 16, 2021, at 11:00 A.M. at the Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon, Iowa. Pastor Kathy Kluis officiating. Inurnment will be in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Audubon at a later date. Honorary casket bearers will be Kevin Edelman, Taylor Edelman, Tony Monoz, Don Fedderson, Jesse Olsen, and Clark “Sam” Kauffman.


Dorothy's memorial service will be livestreamed on KESSLER FUNERAL HOMES INC. Facebook page. You will need a Facebook account to view the service. To get to our Facebook page, you may scroll to the bottom of our homepage at www.kesslerfuneralhomes.com, and click the Facebook logo to be taken directly there. Or you can log into your Facebook account, search for KESSLER FUNERAL HOMES INC, and 2-3 minutes prior to the service start, the video will appear in the timeline. Please note: you will not find the video feed prior to the start of the service, so please refresh the page to see the video at 11:00. If you experience difficulties viewing the broadcast at the time of the service, the recording will remain on our Facebook page for additional viewing opportunities.