Dorothy “Jean” Downer, 87, formerly of Seven Lakes and Southern Pines (Belle Meade), died Friday, June 15, 2012, in Fairfield, Conn.
The ceremony will be private, and interment will be in Pine Hill Cemetery, Gowanda, N.Y.
Jean was born Feb. 21, 1925, in Philadelphia, to Peter and Caroline Beck. She attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a WAVE in the hospital corps.
After marrying John Amann in 1946, they lived in the Philadelphia/New Jersey area before settling in western New York. Following John’s death, she married Prescott Downer in 1958, and they continued to live in western New York before retiring to North Carolina in 1982.  
Jean was an active member of her churches, and numerous volunteer organizations and charities, including the Red Cross and Camp Fire Girls, and was the founder of the Seven Lakes Diamonds. During her retirement, she traveled extensively and enjoyed life to the fullest.  Her sense of humor, desire to be independent and love of novelty, companionship and family continued to the end. 
She was predeceased by her brother, Louis “Bud” Beck; and her husbands, Harold “John” Amann (1957) and Prescott Downer (1992). She is survived by her sons, David and Peter Amann, of British Columbia; daughters Carolyn Morgano, of Orchard Park, N.Y., and Susan (Mark) Durham, of Fairfield, Conn.; five grandsons and five granddaughters; seven great-granddaughters and two great-grandsons; and six nieces and three nephews.
She will be dearly missed by all her family and the many friends she made wherever she lived and traveled.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, 555 Long Wharf Drive, New Haven, CT 06511, www.holeinthewallgang.org. Condolences may be sent to 340 Hill Farm Road, Fairfield, CT 0682