Myla Lorraine Dorsey
SOUTHFIELD — Myla Lorraine Dorsey died on March 25, 2020, after an extended stay in the St. Anne’s Mead Senior Community, in Southfield, Michigan, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Immediately upon her passing, virtually everyone who knew her began enumerating her lifetime of service to other people through volunteerism and a career in Family Counseling. From a young age, Lorraine was compelled to help other people, becoming, like her mother, an aide at the Arnold Nursing Home near her home in Northwest Detroit.
Lorraine was born October 14, 1931, in Memorial Hospital in Laurium, in Michigan’s Copper Mining region in the Keweenaw Peninsula, to Helen Poole, a mother of Cornish descent and, Arne Mannisto, a father of Finnish descent. Memorial Hospital was built to honor and care for veterans of World War I and injured miners as well. Her origin in that historic part of Michigan, and the difficulties of a miner’s life, as well as the rich cultural heritage she inherited, were never far from her memory, and the life she chose to lead reflected that. Her lifelong volunteer work-whether in Red Cross, teaching exercise classes to children at the YMCA, visiting Hospice patients at Beaumont Hospital, her work with Catholic Social Services, for years diligently recording Reading for the Blind on Saturday mornings, her years of dedication to teaching about wildlife as a docent at the Detroit Zoo-were all part of the inspiration from her early life.
As a young lady, Lorraine lived an active life in Detroit, working as buyer in J.L. Hudson Department store and managing Nadons Junior Fashion Shop in the Maccabee’s Building. In 1951 she was selected, amidst much pomp and circumstance, to be in the Queen’s Court of 250th Birthday Anniversary of Detroit, riding down Woodward Avenue on a magnificent float in that celebrated parade. Wearing a crown, she had her picture on the cover of the Hudsonian Magazine. Lorraine married Jerry Tobias and raised three children in Birmingham, Michigan, working as a medical assistant in Dr. Kerr’s office.
Lorraine married Dr. John Dorsey in 1977, and lived in Birmingham near John’s Pediatric practice. She finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of finishing her college degree and getting a Master’s Degree in Human Resources at Oakland University and then began a long career in family counseling. She set up a counseling practice in a studio in their garden and practiced there until they moved to Lathrup Village. She proved to be a sympathetic and astute listener and became a much sought after therapist.
Always broadening her experience, she studied piano and harp and became an engaged in visual culture, collecting art and taking painting classes at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Association. Becoming a good weekend artist, her painting, suggested the influence of her Finnish/Sami heritage. Lorraine was also an accomplished athlete, joining the Stein Erickson Ski School at Pine Knob Ski area and becoming one of its first ski instructors.
John and Lorraine bought and restored a historical house in the Keweenaw village of Eagle River, not far from the Finnish homestead in Phoenix Farms where Lorraine spent part of her childhood. They also spent time in recent years at their condo in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Lorraine is survived by her loving husband John, three children, son Dr. Jerry (Kelly) Tobias, Michael (Lisa) Tobias and Jody (Neal Hoxsie) Tobias and sister Marilyn Mannisto and brother Glen (Dr. Nancy) Mannisto, and 14 grandchildren, one great grandchild and two nieces. In honor of Lorraine’s passing, a granddaughter made 16 pasties, a famed Northern Michigan recipe created by the Cornish and perfected by the Finnish people. She was preceded in death by her first husband Dr. Jerry Tobias and young daughter Beth Ann Tobias. She will be lovingly missed by too many cousins to count.
A memorial at Acacia Cemetery, Beverly Hills, Michigan will take place in July.