Dr. Katherine Lindley Spaht Dodson

Dr. Katherine Lindley Spaht Dodson, a proud native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and resident of Austin, Texas, died January 26, 2021. Born June 30, 1977, Lindley attended St. James Episcopal Day School and was a 1995 graduate of Episcopal High School of Baton Rouge and a 1999 magna cum laude graduate in chemistry of Washington and Lee University, where she met her husband, Frederick Drew Dodson.

Lindley dedicated her life to helping children. She was a 2003 graduate of Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, later serving as an instructor at Harvard Medical School and as an urgent care physician at Boston Children’s Hospital. Lindley and Drew married in 2006 and moved to Austin in 2007 where she was a pediatric hospitalist at Dell Children’s Medical Center and a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics at Dell Medical School. She was named Dell Children’s Medical Center’s top pediatric doctor in both 2012 and 2017. She joined Children’s Medical Group in 2017 and was honored to become the practice owner in 2020.

The mark she leaves as a trusted pediatrician to countless Austin families and as a treasured colleague and mentor to the Austin medical community will endure and her generosity and gifts of her time, talent and kind heart will be greatly missed.

While her professional career was remarkable, her family always came first. She taught them to love, laugh and pray every day and be thankful for their many blessings. She also taught them about all things Louisiana, which was always in her heart. She loved festivals and any excuse to wear a costume. She was a diehard LSU Tiger fan and a lifelong ambassador for Mardi Gras, celebrating with king cakes and beads every year.

Lindley was a shining light of compassion, warmth and dedication. She was committed to leading a life of caring for others as evidenced by the way she loved and cared for her family, friends and patients. Accessible, funny, caring, determined, brilliant, and selfless, Lindley had an impact on everyone she met. She was the epitome of beauty, both inside and out. Her laugh, like no other, came easily, and her joyfulness and spirit were infectious. To know her was to love her. And our hearts are forever broken by her absence.

She is survived by her beloved husband Drew and adoring children Shaw, Tucker, and Loretta; her parents, Paul Holden and Katherine Shaw Spaht; her brother Paul Holden Spaht, Jr. and his wife Claire; her brother William Carlos Spaht and his wife Julia; nieces Eliza Spaht, Peyton Spaht, Cappa Spaht, and Virginia Spaht; and nephew Robert Holden Spaht. She is also survived by her aunt, Mary Jane Spaht Gill; her uncle, Carlos Gustave Spaht II and his wife Jan; her uncle William Marshall Shaw, Jr.; cousins John P. Everett III, Mary Elizabeth Omeed, and Midgie Carolyn Spaht; and friends truly beyond measure. Lindley was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, William Marshall Shaw and Jean Craighead Shaw, and paternal grandparents, Judge Carlos Gustav Spaht and Loretta Andrus Spaht.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that the community please consider donating at www.DodsonFoundation.org, or https://supportdellchildrens.org/2021/01/remembering-dr-lindley-dodson/, or St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX.