Mrs. Dorothy Jean Lubbes

Dorothy, of High Ridge, died peacefully on Oct. 1, 2026 in St. Louis after a year-long battle with cancer. She was 76 years old.

Dorothy was known to her family by the unique nickname “Bya,” given to her by her beloved granddaughter Macy, who couldn’t pronounce “grandma.” The name was special, and it stuck – there was only one Bya and will never be another.

Dorothy was born on Sept. 4, 1950 to William and Helen Wester in St. Louis. She married Wayne Avery and had two much-loved children, Michele Avery, of St. Louis, and Angela Sanders, of Castro Valley, Calif.

Dorothy graduated from Bayless High School in 1968. She had a long and successful career in banking, serving as an officer in the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Mortgage Women and rising in the ranks in her field to retire as a Vice President at Midwest Bank in 2015.

She spent the last 35 years with her beloved husband Gary Lubbes, who she married in 2001, gaining a daughter, Sara. Gary and Dorothy spent their time traveling to Mexico and the Caribbean, helping each other in their jobs in the mortgage business, fishing and indulging in Gary’s cooking.

Dorothy will be remembered as a woman that would do anything for anyone. She sewed dozens of homemade masks during the start of Covid and gave them to health workers when masks were impossible to find. She found beauty in everything in her life – gardening, traveling, gift-giving, sewing and making craft projects so professionally she could have gone into business making art. She loved music, people and exploring new places whenever she could. She even spent her last birthday on what she said was a one-night “adventure” with her best friends to Top of the Rock.

But the thing Dorothy loved most was her family. She would help those she loved at the drop of a hat, particularly her kids and grandkids. She never missed a play, a softball game, a swim meet or a basketball game if she could help it.

She also had a knack for a quick-witted joke. After she retired, Dorothy found a new love – pickleball. She formed a group of new pickleball friends she called “The Heathens,” since they loved to play on Sunday mornings during church hours.

Dorothy is survived by her husband, Gary, her daughters, Michele Avery, Angela Sanders (David), and Sara Simpson (John); her six grandchildren, Will and Kate Sanders, Macy Avery, J.C. Simpson, and Brighton and Lakeland Frost; and her four beloved sisters, Ruth Saunders, Mary Lahti (John), Hilda Reis (Roger), and Chris Alexander (Kim).

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Bill Wester.

A celebration of life is being planned for family and friends and will be announced privately.