Dorothy Jane Walters
Dorothy Jane Walters (Dotty) died on September 10, 2015 in Healdsburg, California, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 79 years old.
Commonly known as the “Dotty Lama” because of her compassion for others, she was born Dorothy Jane Kidd on December 15, 1935 in Glendale, California, to Mary Jane and Ray Kidd. After graduating from Glendale High School, Dotty attended Stanford University and graduated with honors with a BA in history and a master’s in education. Because she loved horses, she taught horseback riding at Orme Ranch Camp in Mayer, Arizona, during her summer vacations.
It was at Stanford that Dotty met her best friend and life partner Jim. The romance between Dotty and Jim was evident to anyone who knew them. After their marriage, they lived first in Pasadena and then moved to Lafayette, where their children were raised. During these years, Dotty worked as a history and science teacher and counselor at Hayward High School, and then went back to school at Diablo Valley College to become a dental hygienist (she called herself “the tooth fairy”) and graduated first in her class. For their 25th wedding anniversary, Jim thought it would be fun to track down the Kidd family car, which was a favorite of Dotty’s: a 1951 green Chevy convertible. It took him four years to find the owner and talk him into selling the car. Jim surprised Dotty at the party by driving up in the car with Dotty’s parents in the backseat. In 1991, the Walters retired and moved to Healdsburg, where they restored a 100-year-old Victorian in Dry Creek Valley.
When Dotty was 13, her mother gave birth to her sister, Chris, who was autistic. It was then that Dotty realized how important it was to be sensitive to and care for people who are different. Her main interest was always in helping people, as she cared deeply for the well-being of others. She was involved in many local campaigns. She formed the “bench bunch” at the Downtown Bakery, where friends and newcomers met for morning coffee. When Dotty noticed that the lovely Healdsburg Plaza was becoming cluttered with waste, she began a campaign to get new benches and trash bins and enlisted her friends and local merchants to help clean up the plaza. She also was an avid fundraiser for the Stanford Alumni Association and, with her husband Jim, for the Healdsburg Hospital.
Dotty was a bright and engaging woman with a smile that lit up everyone’s day. She was known for her many acts of kindness to other people. As Jim says, “Dotty was that rare combination of talent and creativity mixed with compassion and deep caring for the welfare of others. There was simply no one like her. Dotty’s favorite saying was ‘Treasure the golden moments.’ She created thousands.”
Dotty courageously battled Alzheimer’s for 10 years. In Jim’s words: “First she lost her brilliant mind and then her once strong body, but she never lost her spirit or her soul.” In 2012, Dotty participated in an 18-month clinical trial aimed at finding a cure or treatment for Alzheimer’s. She was quoted in the Press Democrat as saying, “This is not something to be embarrassed about. This is something to be battled.” Dotty continues to give to others even after death. Her brain was donated to the Stanford Medical School for Alzheimer’s research.
Dotty is survived by Jim, her husband of 57 years, and their two children: daughter Cameryn and her husband Marty of Lafayette, and son Craig of Danville, as well as her sister, Chris Kidd of Pasadena; her sister-in-law Mary Jo Walters and niece and nephew Ann and Mark Walters; and her cousins Lolly Swain and Mary Ellen Emery.
The family would like to thank Dotty’s caregivers, the staff at the Healdsburg Senior Living Memory Care Unit, and the nurses at Home Instead Senior Care.
A celebration of Dotty’s life will take place on November 7, 2015, at Alexander Valley Hall, 5512 Hwy. 128, Geyserville, from 11 to 3. For more information, please call 707-888-9484 or email info@alexandervalleyhall.com.
In lieu of flowers, please consider sending a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association, 2290 North First Street, Suite 101, San Jose, California 95131, or go to www.alz.org.
Lovingly written by Lisa M. Grotts