Dorothy Celia ""Dotte"" Mason

MASON, Dorothy Celia McKethan “Dotte”, age 100 of Brooksville, Florida and Highlands, North Carolina, died at the age of 100, on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at her home in Brooksville.  Born on May 17, 1911, to William McLaurin McKethan and Mary Alice Hale, Dotte was a fourth generation Hernanao Countian, and a lifelong resident of Brooksville.  She was valedictorian of the Hernando High School graduating class of 1929, attended Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia, and transferred to Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University), where she graduated in 1933 with a BA in history and was president of Alpha Delta Pi sorority.  She taught history at Hernando High School until marrying her husband, Joseph Madison Mason in 1942.  She later became a substitute teacher at Hernando High School.  She was the founding president, in the mid 1930's, of Junior Service League of Brooksville, and was a member of the founding board of Evergreen Woods, member of the Brooksville Women’s Club, and the Brooksville Music Club.  For over 60 years she was an active member of First United Methodist Church of Brooksville, where she was a Sunday school teacher and served on the administrative board, chaired the finance committee, served on the building committee and was a leader in the United Methodist Women.  She was an avid Gator fan (notwithstanding her FSCW/FSU degree), and attended games at the Swamp until missing her first season in 2010. 

She was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph Madison Mason; daughter, Dorothy Alice Mason; brothers, William Hale McKethan, who died as an infant, Alfred Augustus McKethan, and John Walter “Bud” McKethan.  Survivors include her son & daughter-in-law:  Joseph M. Mason, Jr., & Katherine Anne “Kay” Vaughan Mason of Brooksville; grandchildren:  Mary Katherine Mason Meyer, and her husband Benton, of Tampa and Celia Anne Mason of Jackson, Wyoming; great granddaughter:  McLaurin Elizabeth Meyer and another great grandchild, soon to be born to the Meyers. 

Visitation for friends will be 6 – 8pm, Saturday, July 23, 2011 at the Merritt Funeral Home, Brooksville Chapel.  Funeral services will be conducted 2:00pm, Sunday, July 24, 2011 at the First United Methodist Church of Brooksville, with Reverend Jeffrey Ice officiating.  Interment will be in the Brooksville Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Brooksville. 

ARRANGEMENTS BY

MERRITT FUNERAL HOME

BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA

(352) 796-6699

“Family Owned & Operated”

www.merrittfuneral.com