Dorothy Mae (Schuette) Akins was born to John and Victoria (Thiel) Schuette on May 21, 1924, on a twenty-acre farm near Collinsville, Illinois. She was the youngest of five children. Dorothy attended St. Peter and Paul Catholic School and graduated from Collinsville Township High School in 1942. After graduation she worked as a chemist in a plant manufacturing zinc oxide for paint. She was the first woman to be employed in the plant at a time when men were being drafted into military service during World War II. Dorothy married Wendell Richard Akins on July 24, 1943. After their children left home Dorothy attended nursing school and was then employed as a registered nurse in hospitals in St. Louis and in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She and Wendell moved to Tulsa where he was transferred by his employer, American Airlines. They retired to a small farm in Oklahoma and later moved to Hamel, Illinois. Wendell died on July 6, 2004. In 2018 Dorothy moved to Omaha, Nebraska.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, twin daughters who died in childbirth, her siblings Frank Schuette (Verna Bollman), Florence Bollman (Oliver), Albert Schuette (Bernice Barbier) and George Schuette (Maxine Akins). Also preceding her in death were a grandson, Michael Scherr, and a great grandson, Jacob Abbott. She is survived by her children, Janice Akins Scherr (Stephen) of Omaha and Richard Akins of Hamel, seven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, a great, great-grandchild and nieces and nephews.

Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at St. John's Catholic Church on the Creighton University campus on Friday, August 25th, at 10:00 a.m. Graveside services will follow later in Collinsville, Illinois. Memorials may be made to St. John's Church, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE, 68178 or to Angels Care Hospice, 10838 Old Mill Road, Suite One, Omaha, NE 68154-2649.