Obituary of Dorothy I. Logan

Dorothy I. “Dot” Logan, resident of Syracuse for over 90 years, passed away aged 99 on April 13, 2023, after a long, productive, caring, and inspiring life.  She had been hospitalized and then in rehab for many weeks and had recovered back to her sharp and energetic self when her rugged heart finally gave out.
Beloved daughter, sister, aunt, great-aunt, great-great aunt, engaged citizen, trusted colleague, and great friend to many, Dorothy was preceded in death by her father, Rev. Wesley Taylor Logan Sr. in 1963; her mother Blanche Sheppard Logan in 1968; her sister-in-law Edith M. Logan in 1981; her brother Rev. Wesley T. Logan Jr. in 2016; and her nephew James D. Logan, with whom she was especially close, in 2020. She is survived by her nephew Richard D. Logan (Carol); grand-nephews David M. Kennedy-Logan (Jennifer) and Jonathan M. Logan (Karen); great-grand nieces Beatrice, Zadie and Roxie; and great-grand nephew Rowan. All know they were greatly loved by their Aunt Dorothy.
Dorothy Irmah Logan (her middle name is an anagram of her maternal grandfather Hiram Sheppard’s first name) was a caring and civically engaged – while also fiercely independent – person all of her life. She was compassionate, witty, well informed, a great listener and storyteller, and could engage in conversation at length on many subjects. She also had a wonderfully dry, sometimes wry, Yankee humor that family and friends enjoyed countless times.
Dorothy’s professional career was as civilian assistant to a succession of US Air Force Generals who commanded the Northeast Sector of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) at Griffiss Air Force Base. The Logan family well remembered that an Air Force general was at the funeral of Dorothy’s father in 1963, and another at her mother’s funeral in 1968.  Both nephews Richard and James remembered many times when Aunt Dorothy would tell them she had just met this certain war hero or famous flyer. 
Because of her job, Dorothy had a high-level security clearance. Her nephew Richard recently asked her if, fifty years on, there were still things she couldn’t talk about. She smiled and answered, “Yes.” A plaque hangs in the Pentagon that testifies to Dorothy’s steadfastness in her role in the USAF.  It names her Civilian Employee of the Year for the (entire) US Air Force in 1970.
Although the Logan family of recent generations were not military, some forebears had distinctive military careers in earlier history: One was her maternal great-grandfather George Wheeler Sheppard, father of four when he joined the 149th Regiment of New York Volunteers. He died at the Battle of Gettysburg.  On the non-military side, her Scottish grandfather Thomas I. Logan IV was an engineering foreman for Thomas Edison. (One look at the hobby room in her house makes clear that she too had an engineer’s intellect.) Notable too, her grandmother Hannah Taylor Logan was a leader in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Dorothy graduated from Syracuse University (also her brother’s alma mater). Her time there bracketed the WWII years.  Many Army Air Corps cadets were stationed on campus then, and she began volunteering in a campus Air Corps office. At some point she was asked to stay on, and thus began her long civilian USAF career in the post-war years.
Dorothy was active in Syracuse’s University Methodist Church, the Logan family church for many years. She was also a longtime active member and officer of the American Association of University Women, the Professional Women’s League, the Syracuse Antiques Club, and others. She gave many talks on many subjects to these groups. While having a demanding professional life and an active volunteer life, Dorothy also cared for her aging parents, her father being homebound with severe rheumatoid arthritis the last twenty years of his life, and later her mother ill with cancer.
One of many highlights and joys of her long life was trips to Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s to track down family ancestors. (One trip was with her brother Wesley, when she also visited Richard and family on sabbatical in Canterbury, UK.) She loved genealogy. That is fitting considering all her life added to the Logan-Sheppard family tree and its story. RIP Legend.
There will be a simple memorial service at University United Methodist Church, 324 University Ave., Syracuse, at 1 PM on Saturday, Aug. 12. Friends are invited to come share memories.