Dorii Gbolo dedicated her life to improving the physical and spiritual health of the poor in St. Paul and Liberia.
After beginning her career in the mission field, Gbolo earned two college degrees and worked her way up to chief operating officer of the Open Cities Health Center in St. Paul. She died from cancer June 30, her 56th birthday.
"Dorii dedicated her life to serving patients and strengthening health care in our community. Her work has made a positive impact in the lives of so many Minnesotans," said U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., in a news statement. McCollum spoke in April at "Dorii Appreciation Day," held at Open Cities Health Center.
Gbolo was born Dorii Lucas and raised in Danville, Ill. In 1974, her family moved to St. Paul. Both her mother and grandmother were nurses and active in their church.
"I was influenced by my mother and grandmother. I saw the work they performed for patients and the community, and I wanted to do the same," Gbolo told the Star Tribune in 2006.
When she was about 20, Dorii Lucas flew to the Todee district of Liberia where she began her career managing a health clinic and boarding school at the Killingsworth Mission. She met and married Bill Gbolo, a native missionary. He said they stayed about eight years and started a family that grew to 11 children after they moved to St. Paul.
"She was always interested in mission work," said her sister, Bettye Granger, of Minneapolis. Even as a young girl, Dorii was driven. "Anything she set her mind to, she could make it happen," Granger said. "She was always about reaching out and helping people."
After Gbolo and her young family returned to St. Paul, she earned a nursing degree at St. Catherine University, said her husband. She began working as a nurse for what was then the Model Cities Health Center in St. Paul. She became clinic programs director in 1998 and was named chief executive in 2006, after returning from a year as the women's health grant coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health.
