Sheplives


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People Family, Friends, Teachers, etc.

Dorothy Anderson

aka: Dorothy Anderson

Girlfriend, major character

It was hard to determine how much of Shep's story telling was fact or fiction. He often told stories involving dates with Dorothy Anderson. One such show involved going to the races and seeing the famous Whirlawy. Dorothy was real and they actually dated for a period of time writing each other while Shep was in the Army and so was her brother Johnny. This show describes the whole family: 10/16/64 - Selling Seeds in 2nd Grade, Drunken Painter

Where Shep Makes Reference To This Subject:

Time	Date	Category	Title
•	October 16, 1964	Radio	Selling Seeds in 2nd Grade, Drunken Painter
•	January 7, 1965	Radio	A Day at the Races
•	April 24, 1965	Radio	The Star and Garter. Pursuit of Sin / Cave Diggers, Drive in Date, Company K Eggs
•	August 28, 1965	Radio	Building first radio with the Old Man / The Lure of Defeat, The Mets, Enlisting
•	April 30, 1966	Radio	Sex Education; Top Secret Radar; $20 in Library Book
•	May 14, 1966	Radio	The Prom
•	July 15, 1966	Radio	Riverview Amusement Park: Riding the Bobs
•	June 15, 1968	Radio	Animal Kingdom & Dead Flies
•	July 20, 1968	Radio	Going to the Races
•	March 15, 1969	Radio	Frozen in a Block of Ice
• 09:52	January 5, 1970	Radio	Jews Harp, One Man Band
•	May 1, 1962	Radio	Date with Dorothy
•	August 21, 1962	Radio	Animals in Pants, Army for keeps
•	October 30, 1962	Radio	Swedish Influence
•	November 1, 1962	Radio	Mr Shepherd is Live
• 40:15	January 24, 1969	Radio	Signal Corps Pillow

Photos:

September 25, 1940
Maid of honor to "Hessville Queen of the Day"

Courtesy: Steve Glazer

1944
Shep in the Army

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1943
Shep in the Army

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1943
Shep with his car

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1943
Shep at the dunes

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1944
Shep studying at U of Maryland

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1948
WKRC Publicity Photo

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

1948
1948 WKRC Publicity Photo

Courtesy: Dorothey Anderson

Record: 2577 / ID: p_2577

Notes and Assets

Dating Notes

No Notes Found

General Notes

No Notes Found

Technical Notes

Notes

Source: Mark Anderson
[From Mark Anderson - 3/10/2004] Jim, My Father was born in 1918, so Mr Shepherd was 3 yrs younger. My Aunt Dorothy, was, I believe, 7-8 yrs younger than my Father (I am a little foggy about her age, I will have to talk to her about it). I think there is a little mixing of fact and fiction, or mixing of timelines...he must have been older than 15 when he was dating her. If I remember correctly, she was as senior in high school when he was in the army and began writing to her. I will have to call Dorothy and get the facts straight. Anyway, I recognize the story about Riverview...Dorothy told of the time she went with him and was just terrified on all the rides and was certain that he referred to her terror on the rides, only he used a ficticious name. The letters tell many stories about the army...they were mostly love letters and letters of frustration when she didn't write him back...things like that. My Aunt actually gave me all of the letters. In fact, when the Community Center opened in Hammond, I had to mail some pictures back to her so they could be used in the opening. They were publicity type photos from when he was at WKRC. When I get a chance, I will look through the letters and see if there are stories I recognize. I don't mind the questions.....I find it all interesting. Before we moved to Connecticut, we lived in Hammond in the house where my Dad and Aunt grew up on Arizona Avenue. My wife went to Warren G Harding elementary school. His early life was very similar to my Father's life - he worked in the tin mill at Inland steel for awhile, he was a HAM radio operator (in fact, this is how he got to know Jean), he was in the signal corps in the army etc. So my Dad always told similar stories. Anyway, my Father passed away 20 years ago, but hearing and reading Sheperds stories, helps me remember him. [From Mark Anderson - 3/31/2004] Jim, I got the pictures from Dorothy. I am including 2 from WKRC (I only know that because they were in a WRKC envelop and Dorothy confirmed, there is no evidence on the pictures themselves). I also included a couple of Army pictures, including a snap shot of him at the U of MD in 1944..where he was involved in some sort of training. I added a shot taken at the Indiana Dunes and another of him by his car. [From Mark Anderson - 3/31/2004] Jim, I asked Dorothy if she would mind if you posted these and she was perfectly fine with it. She also allowed the Hammond Community Center to copy them and put them up there. I think you should credit them to Dorothy Martin (Anderson) since they are hers. I will ask Dorothy about where he went to school...the picture is date June '44 and I think he was still in the army. In the letters he mentioned something about the army sending him to school. I am not sure if he got his degree there or just took some classes. I will ask. Dorothy and he were never married. They were engaged for a short time, which I believe occured while he was in the army. It is intestering to follow the flow of the letters he sent her (140 of them) while there..it is clear that the relationship started to sour a little bit by the end. I thought you might find it interesting that in the box of letters is also a letter from Paul Schwartz. Also, Dorothy told me Sunday that somewhere in her house she has a letter she wrote to Schwartz that was returned to her unopened...when he was lost in the war (what he said in IGWT was true). I know you have pictures of some of the people on your site. I thought I might send you Dorothy's senior picture from high school so you could post. In the "Dead Flies" story you sent...he is definitely describing Dorothy - Beautiful, blond hair, blue eyes, beautiful skin. ( In that story, he also describes her father in his undershirt with suspenders. That is what I remember my Grandfather always wearing.) The story could very well be true..they went a lot of places together including the Indiana dunes on several occasions (which is where that picture on the beach was taken)..but she is having trouble remembering details these days. Even in the story he says he never told her. Dorothy told me that she definitely went to Arlington Park with him (on the story when he bet on the horse). She did, however, think the story was made up..she didn't remember anything like that. [From Mark Anderson - 7/16/2013] I can't remember how close in age my Dad and Jean were, I think pretty close and Dorothy was a few younger than my Dad. Anyway, my Dad was into building radios and had a ham radio and would talk about Jean coming to the house to mess around with them. That is how Jean and Dorothy got to know each other
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Research Notes

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"Can you imagine 4,000 years passing, and you're not even a memory?
Think about it, friends. It's not just a possibility. It is a certainty." - Jean Shepherd - 1975