Dorothy Goetz was a twenty-year-old singer when she wed Irving Berlin. Goetz’s older brother Ray was collaborating with Berlin on some songs, and Dorothy wanted to meet Berlin in hopes of being able to sing some of his songs. He asked her out at that first meeting, and they wed within weeks in February of 1912. The newlyweds honeymooned in Cuba, where Dorothy unfortunately contracted typhoid, dying of the illness in July of 1912. Berlin was inconsolable and stopped working for a number of months. His first composition following her death was “When I Lost You,” which Berlin confirmed was written in her honor. According to the cemetery for the thirteen years after Dorothy’s death (until he married again in 1925), Berlin arranged for a local florist to regularly deliver a white rose to his deceased wife’s grave.
A Grave Concern 