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Memorial services for Dorothy Lawrence Stubbs who died peacefully at home on Lake Concordia on Saturday, January 1, 2022, will be on Saturday, January 22, 2022, at the First Presbyterian Church in Natchez with visitation at 3 p.m. followed by a celebration of her life at 4 p.m.  Dotty was born May 19, 1922, in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the daughter of Odile Schaefer Lawrence and Col. Samuel Eugene Lawrence, Sr.

She was a charter member of the University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, LA, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Natchez, MS.  She was a 1943 graduate of Louisiana State University and a die-hard Tiger fan, one of the many in person witnesses of “The Billy Cannon Runback.” She served many years as a volunteer for Church Women United, the Louisiana Art and Artist Guild, the Baton Rouge Art League, American Association of University Women, American Bank of Baton Rouge Women’s Panel, the International Hospitality Foundation, and the Mended Hearts Association.  She served with Jack as the Acting Executive Directors of the Foundation For Historical Louisiana in 1994-95, and was honored as Preservationist of the Year in 1997.

Through Church Women United, she was a volunteer worker for the Women’s Correctional Institute in St. Gabriel, LA.   She served countless hours for Camp Fire,Inc., earning the Ernest Thompson Seton Award for outstanding service,  and Boy Scouts of America earning the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Boy Scouts at the local Council level.  She was a member of Beta Sigma Omicron Social Sorority at LSU and later an alumni member of the Alpha Phi Fraternity. Dotty and Jack founded and were active members of the Friendship Force of Baton Rouge.  For her years of devoted service to her community she and Jack were honored as “Volunteer Activists” in 1983 by the Speech and Hearing Foundation.

She and Jack were warmly received when they moved to Natchez in 1996 and continued their community involvement through the Natchez Visitors’ Center, the Historic Natchez Foundation, the Retiree Partnership, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, the Natchez Festival of Music, and the First Presbyterian Church.

Dotty was a devout Christian who shared with all a great love for all of God’s creation.  She never missed Sunday School or church unless “providentially hindered,” as her beloved former pastor, Parks Wilson, would say.  There were never enough hours in the day for all of the activities she loved to do: painting, photography, arts and crafts, and adding to her many collections.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 60 years, Jack Bryan Stubbs, two grandsons,Jordan Bryan Stubbs and Olin Luke Stubbs, and siblings Lt. Col. Samuel E. Lawrence,Jr., and Marian Lawrence.

She is survived by sons Olin Lawrence Stubbs of Clinton, LA, Samuel Eugene Stubbs and wife, Melinda, of Houston, TX, Dr. Kenneth W. Stubbs and wife, Karen, of Lake Concordia, LA; nine grandchildren: Nathaniel Stubbs, Andrew J. Stubbs, Whitney Stubbs Newton, Jack Stubbs, Maxwell Stubbs, Joanna Stubbs Dixon, Charles Stubbs, Dr. Andrew D. Stubbs, and Julian Stubbs; and six great-grandchildren: Anna Mae Stubbs, Jack Stubbs, Jordan T. Stubbs, Samantha Dixon, Bryan Stubbs, and Jolene Newton.

Dotty and family were especially grateful for the loving care of her many sitters over the last few years, especially Tracy Sones, Sharon Long, Flora McCoy, Deborah Smith, and Lucy Brown as well as the special care from  Courtney Wyles, Sheila Evans, and Jackie White of Deaconess Hospice in Natchez and more recently Penny Crain, Sarah Brumfield, and Angie Harris of Encompass Hospice in Ferriday.

The family request that memorials may be made to:First Presbyterian Church in Natchez, University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, The Animal Shelter in Ferriday or Natchez, the Historic Natchez Foundation, Natchez Festival of Music, or the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.