Seven Years

She was an obedient Midwestern girl. Life couldn’t have been easy for her and her family as a child. Home was Depression-era Chicago to Dorothy deAraujo and her loving parents. Her father made his living selling clothes wringers while her mother spent her days working in the department store. They wanted more for their child. Though Dorothy spent her evenings taking classes at the Art Institute of Chicago, her parents could not see a future for her in art. Dorothy put aside her dream.

Nothing could be found to tell the story of her falling in love, marrying, and having a child, yet she did so. As an adult, Dorothy headed west where she went to work for California State University’s Long Beach campus. She worked there for 20 years, until her retirement. That was when Dorothy started to live her dream.

After retiring, Dorothy was allowed to take free classes. She took advantage of this opportunity to finally earn her coveted degree in Fine Arts, at the age of 69, to the delight of her son, Tim deAraujo, Jr. Soon she had become a full-fledged professional artist with a thriving new business.

Dorothy made her home in the Naples community of Long Beach, CA. There she became known as “our artist” because of her ability to capture the colorful community filled with canals, boats, shops, and homes. Dorothy was an intrepid traveler. She loved to visit other countries to expand her vision and explore their museums. She counted France, Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Hawaii among the lands she explored.

She may have been 82 years old, but she wasn’t slowing down yet. She kept painting supplies at her son’s home in Massachusetts in case the muse hit. It was at the end of one of her visits there that she boarded Flight 175. Dorothy deAraujo was a remarkable woman. She was an artist – a wife – a mother – a grandmother, and Dorothy was on her way home.


To learn more about Dorothy Alma deAraujo and other victims of September 11, 2001, please visit the 2996 Tribute or here.