Alva Dobrzanski Caringer Tomlinson

Alva Dobrzanski Caringer Tomlinson peacefully passed away in her home in Johnston, Iowa, on July 17 at the age of 95. Alva was born in Olivette, Missouri, to Lydia Luedloff Dobrzanski and Otto Ernst Dobrzanski. She was preceded in death by her devoted older brother, Otto Christoph Dobrzanski, and her loving husband, Robert Orin Tomlinson. With deep roots in what became Olivette, Ladue, and Creve Coeur, Alva raised her children in the same home in which she grew up. The home had been a gift to her mother from her grandfather, Johann Christoph Luedloff. Alva’s great-grandparents, the Luedloffs, Seiberts, and Muellers, had moved from Germany and settled in what became Ladue in the 1840s and 1850s. Family farms dotted Ladue and Warson Roads, and much of the original Luedloff homestead is part of the St. Louis Country Club today. An accomplished pianist and avid reader, Alva was the loving mother of Larry Caringer of Southport, North Carolina, and Denise Caringer of Des Moines and Holiday Lake, Iowa. She was the beloved grandmother to Susan Bernier of Manchester, CT, the great-grandmother to Brigid Bernier, Conor Bernier, and Owen Bernier and loving mother-in-law to Larry’s wife, Mabel Caringer, and Denise’s husband, Ronald Whitman. Alva will be remembered for her unending devotion to her children and her steadfast friendship to dozens of longtime friends in St. Louis, Orange County, CA, and Houston, TX, where she and her husband had lived. An animal rights advocate, she was noted by everyone for her love of cats and inability to turn away a needy feline. She always fed and cared for the birds who enjoyed her yard, wherever she lived. She also was a wonderful cook. Dinner was an amazing buffet. Those who knew her will miss this dear, sweet woman who loved them and considered nature and animals a part of her extended family. A private family burial service at the family plot at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Olivette will be held at a later date.