Dorothy "Dot/Dee Dee" Lee Cox McMillan

She was born on Christmas day, 1929 in Memphis, Tennessee. She was named Dorothy because her Mother, Ora Lee Macklin Cox McMaster said it meant “gift of God.” She was preceded in death by her mother and father, Bakewell Cox, her brother, Herbert Bakewell Cox, her husband, Ray Emile McMillan who died in 2008. She leaves behind her family: daughter, Lynda Shannon Reeves and husband James Calvin Reeves, grandson, Michael Lindsey McMillan, daughter-in-law, Cheryl Andrea and two great-grand-sons, Michael Hayden McMillan of Denver and Gabriel Zane McMillan and her brother and sister-in-law Bill and Dona McMillan of Georgetown, Texas who loved to spoil her.

She grew up in Memphis and had life long friends. In fact her best friend from grade school Beverly Stuber and her boyfriend Walter Jackson eloped with Dot and Ray and had a double wedding in Mississippi. She was 17 and Ray was 20. She and Beverly were such kids they challenged each other “I will if you will.” Amazingly, both couples remained married until their husbands passed away. Dot and Ray were married for 61 years.

In her 60s in Memphis she expanded her natural love of fashion and sold fine jewelry. Then Ray retired from McMillan Masonry Contracting company and they moved to Prosper, Texas in 2004 to be near their family. She was so excited to eat Mexican food on a regular basis and join Stonebriar Community Church and hear Chuck Swindoll in person. She had been listening to him on the radio from California for years. She was enriched by her Marathon Sunday school class and after Ray passed joined the WOW (Women of Worth) group at church for widows and single women. Those get-togethers meant everything to her and everyone showed such love and caring as her health started to decline.

She was the only person her cardiologist had ever seen with all four heart valves leaking. Possibly the result of scarlet fever as a child. At 84, she underwent open heart surgery and loved to tell people she had a pig’s aortic valve and a tricuspid valve repair. She had several bouts with pneumonia and developed pulmonary hypertension. It was progressive over the next five years. She had a great team at UTSWMedical Center, one of the nation’s premier Pulmonary Hypertension Clinics in the country. She loved her team: Dr Sonia Bartolome, Dr Tamara McGregor and Beverly Gamboa, RN. She especially loved her cardiologist, Dr Sabrina Stone at Baylor. She felt blessed when she went on hospice to have such care through Community Hospice. Doing so enabled her to stay at home and make her transition there. Michael also peppered her days with lots of thoughtful acts, coffee and breakfast with her newspaper each morning and her favorite ice cream treats at night.

She was such a true Southern woman who always did everything to look her best. She had a great sense of humor and when someone would complement her on how great she looked she would laugh and usually say “I’m sorry about your eyes.” When anyone asked how she was doing she would say “better than I deserve.” And her favorite “It’s all good!”

She kept her mind sharp by doing all the puzzles in the paper every day, crossword and sudoku were her favorites. She was so ready to step over into heaven and said she was sure there would be puzzles there too. She was anxious to get to heaven and be with Jesus, Ray and all her Memphis friends. She would laugh and say she had outlived them all and they would think she went to the other place if she didn’t get there soon.

A Memorial Service for family and friends will be held at 11:00am on Thursday, August 8, at Stonebriar Community Church, 4801 Legendary Drive, Frisco, TX. Graveside Service for the family at 2pm at Hillcrest Memorial Park.

Donations may be made in her memory to Stonebriar Community Church, 4801 Legendary Drive, Frisco, TX.