“Photo: Dorothy Cleveland in her beloved little red MG Midget sports car.Record file photoFuneral services set for SaturdayFuneral services for Dorothy Cleveland will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 15 at St. Hubert Catholic Church in Langley. Arrangements are under the direction of Visser Funeral Home of Langley. South Whidbey lost a bit of its spark on Wednesday when Dorothy Cleveland died 17 months after suffering a stroke.Cleveland, who would have been 85 on Jan. 31, was an inspiration to many as she dedicated her life on the island to public service, both through voluntary activities and as an elected public official.She was more active in her 80s than most people half a century younger, and until her stroke in 1998 she still served as an elected commissioner with the Port of South Whidbey and in many other capacities as well.Port Commissioner Jan Smith worked with Cleveland for several years before her stroke forced her to reluctantly retire. “She had a spirit of adventure and she had a ton of energy,” Smith said. “She certainly was a driving force in the community. She’s irreplaceable, no doubt about it.”Known for her wit and an inability to ignore a good cause, Cleveland started or joined almost all notable Langley and South Whidbey organizations. And it was easy to spot her as she sped around the island in her little red MG sports car with the “GOBYBUS” license plate. “The sheriff’s never caught me,” she’d say with a laugh. The license plate served as a public declaration of support for Island Transit, which she nurtured through its infancy.Her husband Keith Cleveland was often at her side, helping with the many projects she would undertake. And he helped her learn to drive after they moved to the island permanently in 1967. “She bought an Austin Healey Sprite and didn’t know how to drive,” he recalled this week. “Her dad didn’t believe in women drivers.”Dorothy learned to drive and drive well, even though she liked to kid about speeding. She took safety seriously and taught traffic safety to senior citizens in the AARP 55 Alive program for years.Keith was close to Dorothy, and he stuck with her during her 17 months at Careage of Whidbey nursing home in Coupeville. There was hope for a quick recovery shortly after her stroke but she never regained her strength. Keith said his wife’s condition deteriorated rapidly in the final months.Cleveland joined in“She developed some kind of admiration for what they were doing,” Keith said in explaining his wife’s propensity for joining community organizations. “Then they’d decide she was presidential material — she ran everything she joined, and she did it along parliamentary rules.”Although she tooled around in a sports car, order was very important to Dorothy Cleveland. You could never vote on a motion without a proper second being made, and there was no chance of discussing an issue before its time arrived on the agenda.Sometimes she would scold a public official for unknowingly violating one of Robert’s Rules. But she wasn’t out to embarrass them. “Don’t print that,” she’d say with a smile, holding the local newspaper reporter’s attention with a serious look from her lively blue eyes.All her old friends recall her love of Robert’s Rules of Order, and her insistence that whatever meeting she was attending follow the rules.“She knew chapter and verse and page and paragraph,” said Jean Goodfellow, who worked with Cleveland in the League of Women Voters. “I wonder how anybody’s going to get along without her knowledge. It kept things organized and running smoothly.”Helga Jean Capps served with Cleveland when both were on the Langley City Council in the early 1980s. “I always liked Dorothy. She was always so friendly, and that little perky sports car was quite an eye catcher,” said Capps. And when it came to issues, Cleveland was informed. “She always wanted to keep up with what was going on — she was determined to get better.”Capps, like hundreds on South Whidbey, was deeply saddened and surprised by Cleveland’s death. “She seemed indestructible,” she said.Leader among Republicans, tooCleveland was a leader in the local Republican Party for over three decades, helping run campaigns and putting on the big Lincoln Day Dinner each year at Useless Bay Golf & Country Club.Marty Matthews remembers helping Cleveland with many of those dinners, but he notes that he didn’t have to do much. “She’d ask me to do some trivial thing, and she made that trivial thing sound like the most important thing in the whole world,” he said.Cleveland started the League of Women Voters Candidates’ Nights on South Whidbey, giving citizens a chance to meet those running for office. She always credited the South Whidbey Record as a co-sponsor, although she never asked the editor for as much as a plate of cookies. Nevertheless, she always publicly expressed her gratitude for “all the help.”Matthews attended numerous meetings with Cleveland present, and remembers being corrected many times for how meetings were being run. But nobody ever resented it. “She corrected us in a gentle, humorous way,” he said. “It was very easy to be gently corrected by Dorothy.”Like all her friends, Matthews marveled at how active Cleveland kept herself. “She was all over this community,” he said.As a result, Cleveland may have been known by more South Whidbey residents than any other single individual. “They’re going to have to combine all the churches to have a funeral for that woman,” said Mary Broderick, who with Cleveland was among the charter members of the South Whidbey Soroptimist Club in 1984.Wit, wisdom part of package Cleveland displayed an unusual combination of organizational skills and what Broderick described as “off the wall humor.” For example, both played witches in the Soroptimists’ Monster Manor, which used to be a Halloween staple at the fairgrounds. “We were both witches at Monster Manor, but she was the best witch,” Broderick admits.Broderick, a long-time local banker, is herself impressively active in many worthy community activities. But she couldn’t keep up with the much older Cleveland. “That was just Dorothy,” she said. “I don’t know how she did it. She wanted to know everything that was going on.” And whenever a group had a question, “Dorothy was always willing to find the answer. And, by God, if we didn’t open a meeting correctly, Dorothy was always on top of it.”Cleveland kept her person as orderly as her meetings. “She was very particular about how she looked,” said Jean Goodfellow. “She was immaculately dressed, fastidious — except to that purse.”Many people, including Broderick, remember the purse Cleveland packed around for 20 or more years. Broderick described it as “a little wicker picnic basket purse,” with a painting of a couple — possibly Dutch — on the side. “It flipped open on both ends. I don’t think she ever bought another purse,” Broderick said, laughing.That’s one trait that all of Cleveland’s friends share. Even though they’re reacting to news of her death, they always end up laughing about some little memory.But Cleveland left behind more than fond memories and an uncountable number of friends. She left a legacy.Broderick remembers a time when women weren’t nearly so active on South Whidbey. “She helped get women involved,” she said, noting such groups as Business and Professional Women, Soroptimists, and the League of Women Voters. “She was an excellent example for everyone.”Another longtime friend, Ann Pringle, described Cleveland this way:“She was an inspiration — we all say ‘I’m getting tired,’ but Dorothy Cleveland never got tired — she was a mentor, she was wonderful. She said, ‘We can do this, and this, and this,’ and we did.”How she kept activeAs South Whidbey’s most active community member, Dorothy Cleveland served in many capacities over more than 30 years as an island resident. Here’s a sampler.*Langley City Council, 2 terms* Port of South Whidbey, 3 terms* Langley Planning Commission and various city boards* Island County Mental Health, Drug, and Substance Abuse Board (17 years, 5 as chairman)*Island Transit, among the founders*Solid Waste Task Force*Board of Freeholders, chairman*Voter registrar*Puget Sound Council of Governments*League of Women Voters, charter member of South Whidbey chapter*Soroptimist International of South Whidbey, charter member*Washington State & National Association of Parliamentarians*Washington Public Ports Association, trustee*Island County Fair Association, parliamentarian*South Whidbey Historical Society*Extended Services of Island County, past board member*AARP 55 Alive senior driving instructor*Friends of the Langley Library, past president*Langley Community Club, several terms as president*League of Women Voters Candidates Nights, organizer and moderator*National Association of Business and Professional Women– and others too numerous to list.”