Dorothy Frances Gooley Peltier, passed away peacefully May 31, 2020. Born in Pottsville, PA, on October 7, 1939, she was the daughter John Francis Gooley, Jr. and Mary Louise Werez Gooley. Dorothy moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1951 with her parents and 4 siblings. She graduated valedictorian from St. Vincent High School and after graduation she moved to Flint, Michigan to be with her older sisters Jean and Pauline Gooley, where she received an AS degree in biology from Flint Junior College.
In Flint she met and married a young former Air Force service man named William H. Peltier III in 1961 and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she worked as a lab technician for the Rackham Arthritis Research Unit of the University of Michigan Medical School. Dorothy and her husband moved to Marquette, Michigan in 1962 where they had their first child, William H. Peltier IV. Following her husband's graduation from Michigan State University they moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1966, where William worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority. There Dorothy had her second son, Christopher Francis Peltier in 1967.
In 1971 they moved to Athens, Georgia where her husband went to work for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 1983, Dorothy went back to college and received her BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Georgia. She initially worked as a Chemist for the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service/University of Georgia at the Riverbend Research Lab and later joined the U.S. EPA as an Organic Chemist. She retired in 2005 after 21 years.
She loved to travel and have adventures, whether that was accompanying her husband on trips to Hong Kong, Scotland, Portugal, and France or visiting her grandchildren in England, Denmark, and Belgium. She also volunteered at the Oconee County Library and the Catholic Chapel at UGA during her retirement.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, William H. Peltier III and their two sons, William Hamilton Peltier IV, and his wife Melanie Peltier, his stepson Ryo, and second son, Christopher Francis Peltier and his wife, Nathalie Collin Peltier, and their three sons, Nathan, Charles and Oscar. She is also survived by two sisters, Pauline McDermontt and Regina Salem as well as sister-in-law, Elfried Gooley.
A Memorial Mass will be held at the UGA Catholic Center at 10:00 AM on June 20, 2020. The UGA Catholic Center is located at 1344 S. Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30605. Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, capacity of the Catholic Center is only 100 people at this time. The family is requesting that people wishing to attend please RSVP Nathalie Peltier at [email protected].
A Zoom stream is also planned for those who are not able to attend in person. Please send email requests to Nathalie at the above email address to participate. Also, in lieu of flowers, donations in Dorothy's name may be made to The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation at https://www.alzinfo.org/
Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements.
