Dodge City - Roxanne Marie Dowling, 65, of Dodge City, KS joined her loved ones in Heaven on June 17th at home, with her family, after a six-year battle with ovarian cancer.

Roxanne Marie Jacobs, first of six children to Casper and Jeanie Jacobs, was born December 11th, 1955, in Dodge City and grew up on the family farm in Plains, KS. Graduating from Southwestern Heights High School in 1973, meeting the love of her life Kelly Dowling of Dodge City, KS in 1975, and completing her bachelor's degree at Kansas State University, followed by her masters degree at Fort Hays State University transitioned her to her lifelong goal of raising a family on a farm and teaching area youth.

Roxanne married her best friend Kelly in 1976 and began their life building their own cattle operation, working alongside both her and his family farms and raising four boys to be hardworking capable men. Roxanne's love for children, animals and bettering oneself was the foundation of everything she did.

She was an educator for 35 years, teaching Special Education, Science and Math at United Methodist Youthville and Dodge City High School, as well as, leading the special education department for several years; advocating for all students' right to learn to the best of their ability, but most importantly being a positive support system for her students. She loved her students and was great at what she did.

Roxanne's teaching wasn't limited to the classroom. She was a judge in many regional horse shows, a 4-H leader, taught CCD at Our Lady of Guadalupe and a member of the church council, to name a few. Her and her boys became certified swimming instructors, started a lawn mowing business, cleaned offices and rodeo grounds, volunteered for endless organizations, all in an effort, to give to their community and to teach her boys to be well-rounded contributors.

It was especially important to her to raise her boys to care for themselves and for others. She took her love of animals and competition and created and grew the High Plains Livestock Show which still goes on today. Roxanne passed on her love of animals to her boys, and they spent their youth traveling and competing, very successfully, in livestock shows which her boys' families continue to do with their own families today.

When her fight from cancer took her out of the classroom, Roxanne took over as herdsman for the Dowling farm, which her and Kelly started managing years prior, and was genuinely happy being on the farm and taking care of the cattle and daily farm operations. She loved having her grandkids out and teaching them how to check cows and kill musk thistle, two jobs that no-one could do better. Living on the land with her best friends (Kelly and their dog) by her side, caring for animals and producing crops was truly her happy place. Faith, family, and hard work is Roxanne Dowling.

Roxanne is survived by her husband, Kelly; her four sons, Tanner, his wife, Cassi (Fair Grove, MO); Garrett, his wife, Chanda (Bois D'Arc, MO); Payden, his partner Patrick (Chicago, IL); and Laton, and his wife, Sophia (Dodge City, KS); her five wonderful grandchildren: Sache (14), Cinch (12), Oakley (11), Trippton (8), and Frankie Lou (1); her mother and father-in-law, Dean and Louise Dowling (Dodge City, KS); sister in-law, Shelly Dowling (Aurora, CO); and her five siblings, John Jacobs and wife, Susan (Plains, KS); Tawnya Hamilton and husband, Dennis (Dodge City, KS); Tammy Wheaton (Lenexa, KS); LeeAnn White and husband, Mike (Tucson, AZ); and Ronnie Jacobs and wife Tawnya (Plains, KS); as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Casper and Jeanie Jacobs (Plains, KS) and many aunts, uncles and her grandparents.

Funeral mass will be held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City on Friday, June 25, 2021 at 10:00 AM with Rev. Ted Stoecklein presiding.  Burial will follow at Christ The King Lutheran Cemetery in Ford County.  Visitation will be at Swaim Funeral Chapel in Dodge City on Thursday, June 24, 2021 from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM with a vigil to begin at 6:00 PM and a Celebration of Life and sharing of memories to follow at 7:00 PM. To honor Roxanne's love of children and her realization that a support system is so crucial in fighting this disease; in lieu of flowers, consider donating or becoming a partner in hope to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online guest book at www.swaimfuneralhome.com.