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Dortha Mae Zion passed peacefully, in the company of her granddaughter, Jeannette B. Zion, her son, James W. Zion, and her caregivers, Aleta Juan and Vanessa Salcido, on November 10, 2004. She was born on November 24, 1916 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and grew up with homesteading parents, John and Nellie Bennett, in the Douglas, Wyoming area. She married James W. (Bill) Zion in 1942, and she accompanied him for his Army service at Tourney General Hospital in Palm Springs, California and Bushnell General Hospital in Brigham City, Utah, where she worked as a military hospital ward helper. Their son, James W. Zion, Jr., was born in Palm Springs in 1944. Following World War Two the couple moved to Sheridan, Wyoming and began a road and landscaping business, Zion Construction Company. Dortha studied business, and following practical experience in business accounting, she assumed the position of an executive director of the construction business. Zion Construction Company moved to the oilfields of eastern Montana in 1954 for oil rig site, road, landscaping and bridge work. The couple retired in Riverton, Wyoming for ten years, and following ill health they moved to Albuquerque in May 2000 to be with their son and granddaughter. Bill passed away in April of 2003, and his wife followed approximately nineteen months later. Mrs. Zion's survivors are her sister, Dolores Gunderman, of Green River, Wyoming, and her son and granddaughter, both of Albuquerque. She was cared for by loving caregivers, including Aleta Juan, Vanessa Salcido, Olowan Tenoso, Tina Rowland, Thelma Pourier, and Irene Pourier. The Presbyterian Hospice Program assured Mrs. Zion's peaceful end of earthly life, and the conclusion of a career as a construction company executive who saw to the success of road construction ventures. Services will be held on Tuesday, at 10:00 a.m. at French Mortuary Westside Chapel, and burial with her beloved husband will take place at Santa Fe National Cemetery at 1:00 p.m. The Reverend Clyde Stanfield will conduct the services. French Mortuary 9300 Golf Course Rd. NW (505) 897-0300
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