To quote Dorothy I. Lanz, 87, of Lafayette, “Yahoo!” She passed from her earthly home to her eternal Home on Sunday, September 6, 2020.  She was born December 20, 1932, in Niangua, MO, to the late Palmer and Ruth (Stanfield) Aarnes.

She married James Lanz on April 13, 1957. He preceded her in death on November 28, 2007.

Also preceding her in death was her sister, Mildred Frink.

Dorothy graduated from Granville High School, Granville, ND and received her BA in Theology from the Holiness Methodist School of Theology in Minneapolis, MN, where she also minored in Missions.

She served as a missionary with her husband in Bolivia, South America from 1957-61. They then served churches of the Holiness Methodist Church/The Evangelical Church in Oregon, Montana, Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois. She also worked at Wesley Bible College while her husband was president of the college from 1966-73. While they ministered at the church in Danville, IL, Dorothy worked at Wescove Christian High School.

Dorothy worked at various secretarial positions, and most recently as a mortgage customer service representative, where she earned multiple awards for excellence. She was a member of the Holiness Methodist Church/The Evangelical Church. After moving to Lafayette, Indiana in 2002, she attended several area churches, most recently Arise Christian Fellowship (formerly Eastwoods Christian Church).

Dorothy enjoyed playing games, spending time with family and friends, whether in person or on the phone, and watching football (especially if the Vikings were playing). She was proud of her Norwegian heritage, and she spent countless hours making lefse (Norwegian flatbread), and teaching the next generations how to continue the tradition.  Her greatest passions were spending time in God’s Word, memorizing Scripture, and praying for everyone in her sphere of influence. Dorothy was so excited about Jesus that she often exclaimed “Yahoo!” when discussing his miracles, provisions, and promises.  She claimed several passages of scripture as her life verses, most recently Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Dorothy is survived by her children Niki (Gordon) Elliott of Liberia, Africa; Ethan (Randi) Lanz of Loveland, OH; 17 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren; her sister, Norma (David) Freitag, and brothers Vernon (Donna) Aarnes and David Aarnes.

A private service will be held on Friday at Farmers Institute Cemetery in Lafayette. There will be a public, open house fellowship at Arise Christian Fellowship in Lafayette on Friday from 3-6pm, with a short service starting at 5pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Evangelical Church Missions at P.O. Box 1117, Clackamas, OR 97015, or go to thevangelicalchurch.org/missionaries to select a missionary family and make an electronic contribution.