Dorothy Lane Gillespie, 96, passed away on Thursday, April 25 after a lengthy illness.
Born in Maryville, Tennessee to Homer and Emma Lane, she excelled in school, and played cornet in the band. She attended the University of Tennessee, and graduated with a degree in Home Economics.
Following an internship at Duke University, she started a career in dietetics with the Veterans Administration, serving in Mountain Home, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi, before being named Regional Director in St. Louis. It was there that she met Joe Gillespie, assistant administrator at the VA Hospital, whose wife had died leaving him with eight children. She fell in love and redirected her life to joining him as a wife and mother to the family. Through several moves, they arrived in Nashville, where he was Director of the VA Hospital. It was there that they retired – he from administration, and she from cooking every day.
A woman of deep faith from childhood, she was a true model of service to her family and community. She served as a Cub Scout Den Mother, a volunteer with the VA, the Vanderbilt Auxiliary, the Red Cross, and the Embroiderer’s Guild, using her needlework skills to create dozens of projects over the years. She was a long-time member of Belle Meade United Methodist Church, and continued to raise the children in the faith by her example.
She remained a stalwart fan of the Volunteers, and supported Vanderbilt athletics. She loved her ice cream, bacon, and time with friends at bridge club and dinner theater. And she loved Joe and her family profoundly.
She will be deeply missed by eight children, ten grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren, as well as numerous friends who remember her as a generous lady with a sly sense of humor and a sweet smile.
Our thanks on her behalf goes to the caring and compassionate staff at Richland Place, where she was allowed to spend her final years in dignity, and to the wonderful staff at Alive Hospice, who were so tender with her in the final months.
A graveside interment will be conducted at Grandview Cemetery in Maryville with thanks to Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nashville-tn
Memorials may be made in her honor to Belle Meade Methodist Church.
For more obituaries visit https://davidsoncountysource.com/obituaries/
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
