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January 14, 2010
Dorothy Louise Werner, a resident of Pacific Palisades since 1954, suffered a stroke on Christmas evening and remained at St. John's Hospital until she passed away on the evening of January 3. Her son and daughter and some grandchildren were present at the end. She was 82.
Dorothy was born on September 2, 1927 in the town of Mankato, Minnesota, and had nine siblings. She grew up in a farm-style house with vegetable gardens, a chicken coop and fruit trees, and attended a Catholic high school.
After Dorothy married Donald Werner in Austin, Minnesota, in 1949, they moved out to Los Angeles. Donald worked at Petersen Publishing as the editor of Motor Life and then Motor Trend magazines. Dorothy became a homemaker, raising two children, Lynne and Steven.
The family first resided in an apartment at the intersection of Las Casas Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.'From there they moved to Livorno Drive and then to the upper part of Lachman Lane. Later, Dorothy and her husband built a home in the Riviera neighborhood.
In 1962 and in 1965, Donald (1918-1997) and Dorothy started two family businesses in small offices in the Palisades and Brentwood: first Argus Publishers (now a part of Source Interlink Media) and then Werner Publishing Corporation, still located at Wilshire and Bundy. Dorothy was active in the family business right up to the end.
Dorothy is survived by her daughter, Lynne Irvine, whose husband Thomas also comes from a longtime Pacific Palisades family; her son, Steven Werner (wife Debra); and four grandchildren: Jana and Ryan Werner and Diana and Laurel Irvine. Steven and Lynne attended Marquez, Paul Revere and Palisades High and are still Palisades residents.
A memorial service was held for Dorothy on January 9 at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, where her ashes are now interned. This was the family church for nearly all of her years in the Palisades.
Dorothy and her husband were always fond of saying, "Everyone in the world wants to live in the United States, and in the U.S. they want to live in California, and in California, they want to live in Pacific Palisades.'"
You can sip a Starbucks coffee or munch a Noah's bagel and think of Dorothy Werner while you sit on a bench near a plaque that bears her name on the Village Green, between Antioch and Swarthmore at Sunset.
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