Dorothy Demeter January 09, 1932 – May 04, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Send Private Condolences Dorothy Demeter, a lifelong resident of Lena, IL passed away peacefully in her sleep on May 4th. Born on January 9th and the granddaughter of patriarch cheesemaker Frederick Kolb, she grew up amidst the family dairy and cheese making operations at an early age. She also raised chickens and sat among the beehives which her father hosted in their back yard and enjoyed creating sketches and water colors arts.
When she graduated from Lena High School in 1949, her father suggested that Dorothy attend a university for further technical training. One of the best dairy science departments accepted her. Four years later she became an Iowa State graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Dairy Industry and returned to the family factory to improve and direct Quality Control/ Product Development for the Kolb-Lena Cheese Company.
She is remembered as the first woman to enter and complete the Dairy Science program at Ames, Iowa. As the program required she had to lift ten gallon milk cans into the pasteurizer as well as other standards required of the “men’s only previous curriculum”. Dorothy proved her muster and the fellow classmates accepted her and treated her with respect.
Some of them became lifelong friends as innovators in the cheese making industry. Two years after her graduation a fellow Dairy Science Master’s Program Graduate arrived at Kolb-Lena Cheese to gain further cheese making experience before returning to his homeland, Greece. He did make a return visit, but not until James C. Demeter had married Dorothy.
Both of them devoted their lives to Kolb-Lena’s growing production of tasty European styled cheeses, continued the reputational award winning Illinois State Fair Cheese entries and Cheese Displays (Dorothy’s specialty). In 1983, these two Iowa State alumni achieved their dream to design and build a state of the art cheese making operation located on Highway 20 and Sunnyside Road in northwestern Illinois. Savencia Cheese now owns the operation and after learning of the Kolb-Renter legacy, inaugurated a branded line of artisanal cheese in Dorothy’s honor.
It is now sold in supermarkets, specialty stores, and on-line nationwide. After work hours, Dorothy kept busy with community activities including: Organist at St. John’s church, Lena Women’s Club, St. John’s Women’s Society, Stephen’s Ministry, Lena Historical Society, the National Cheese Institute, and Lena Library donors. For many years Dorothy and her friend Ester Cox, co-chaired the Lena Combined Fund which they organized to consolidate the many “door to door” fund raising campaigns that were occurring in Lena.
The operation was supported by volunteers who walked the blocks to complete the once a year campaign drive. Dorothy was preceded in death by her father (Karl M. Renter), mother (Frieda K. Kolb), and step-brother (Henry Renter). She is survived by four children; Helen, Fred, Jim, and Katherine.
She also adored her eleven grandchildren; and six great grandchildren. Dorothy and Jim’s dairy industry experience, knowledge, and mentorship yet continues in the professional work of their two sons Fred and Jim, and fifth generation cheese makers, grandsons Darryl and Nate. Dorothy also has compiled a family history booklet on “The Kolb Family, Pioneers in the Cheese Industry” which will be re-released for sale at the Monroe National Historic Cheesemaking Center.
All proceeds are donated to the museum. Visitation services will be held on Saturday May 11th from 9:30-11:30am at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lena. Pastor Rick Bader will officiate the funeral service from 11:30-12:30.
A memorial fund has been established for St John’s Lutheran Church and the Lena Historical Society.
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