Dottie met her husband Ellis while attending Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska. They were married in 1964 and two weeks later participated in a missionary internship in Michigan. After serving two years in Ellis’ home church, they joined InterAct (then Arctic Missions) and went to Alaska in 1967, where they were involved in church planting in Ruby for two years and Tanana for two years. They then served in Cantwell for seven years, after which they took an educational furlough and immigrated to Canada. They served two years in Slave Lake, Alberta, and then directed the mission’s correspondence ministry for six years. They were church planters in Grande Prairie, Alberta, then Kamloops, B.C., where their ministry was to teach and equip the believers so they could have a strong local church. They have four adult children and eleven grandchildren. Ellis went to be with the Lord in October 2013. Dottie continues to minister as part of the Kamloops Native Fellowship.