Dorothy Ruth Pate was born on the 19th of January 1922, to Lillie Irene Tidwell Pate and Clarence Judson Pate in Blountsville, Alabama. Dorothy survived her parents; her brother, Judson Tidwell Pate; her sister, Mary Arnold Pate Groschelle; and her aunt, Lyda Tidwell. She passed away on Saturday, the 8th of February 2020, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 98. She is survived by cousins and many friends from all walks of life.
Dorothy graduated from the University of Alabama in three years, 1940-43, with a B.S. degree in chemistry, metallurgy, and ceramics. As a native of Alabama, she felt connected with the state through her maternal grandparents’ land grants for their Alabama homestead plots signed by former presidents James Monroe and James Buchanan.
Although few women at that time studied chemistry and almost none had degrees related to engineering, Dorothy continued her studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she completed her M.S. degree in ceramics in 1948. Fortuitously, on her arrival at Penn State, the first person she met was Lee J. Enright, who was completing a Ph.D. in landscape architecture at the school. While waiting in the lobby for her hotel room to be readied, she looked tired, hungry, and a little confused. Lee asked whether she needed help. After a brief chat, he took her to dinner. They married two years later, in 1947.
Dorothy began her professional career in 1943 as a chemist with Esso Research Laboratories in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and finished in 2009, working part-time at Baker Hughes. In the intervening years, she worked for several institutions and companies, including U.S. Bureau of Mines, Electrotechnical Laboratory; Penn State University; National Bureau of Standards; Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Md.; Texas Instruments; Dow Chemical; and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. She coauthored numerous papers and has been named co-inventor on several patents. Dorothy received a Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the U.S. Navy in 1959 and was listed in Who’s Who American Women in 1984-1985. Articles have been written about her by the University of Nebraska and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Dorothy was always interested in the arts and in 1998 decided to become a volunteer and Guild member at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2004 she received the Henry Kahn Roos Volunteer of the Year award for her exemplary volunteer service at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. At that time, the Museum Archivist, Lorraine Stuart, said this about Dorothy: “She is remarkably devoted…she is always punctual, if not early. She is humorous, as well as exceedingly sharp…always dependable, cheerful, and impeccably dressed….Underneath her unfailingly courteous demeanor, she has a mischievous tenacity and vivaciousness that has earned her a place in the hearts of all who have come to know her well.”
In 2016, at the age of 94, Dorothy moved from her home to an independent retirement facility, Brazos Towers, in Houston, Texas, where she made many new friends.
Dorothy Pate Enright is inurned in Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, Texas.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18