Dorothy Ruth Young Gentry

CAYCE - Dorothy Ruth Young Gentry passed away peacefully at her home on Abbott Road in Cayce, SC, on Wednesday, March 15, 2017, one month before her 97th birthday. Born April 17, 1920, Dorothy was the youngest of eleven children born to David McDaniel and Mary Ann Conley Young. She was reared in the small community of Booneford in North Carolina for the first seven years of her life until the sudden death of her father caused her and two of her brothers to have to spend five years at Oxford Orphanage.

At the age of seventeen Dorothy married Jack Edwin Gentry and they had four children: Kenneth Edwin Gentry, Carolyn Joan Gentry Baker, Gloria G. Shackelford, and Gerald Conley Gentry. Dorothy was employed as a seamstress with Stone Manufacturing Company in Greenville, SC, and Columbia, SC, and retired from there in 1984 after 25 years.

Dorothy was born into a long line of strong, hardworking, independent women during a time of war and the depression. She was a loving mother who sacrificed much in order for her children to have more. She was a good friend to many; a special thank you to Marion Wolfe, her friend and caretaker, and to the many friends from her church, Broadacres Baptist, who assisted her in so many ways, and where she was a member for over 55 years.

Dorothy is survived by her two daughters, Carolyn Joan (Luther) Baker, and Gloria G. Shackelford (Keith Carter), as well as grandsons, David E. Swearingen, Randy (Lynn) Baker, Allen Baker, Terry Lynn (Ali) Shackelford, and granddaughter, Robin Audra Shackelford. In addition she is survived by great-granddaughter Allison Baker and the light of her life, great-great-granddaughter, Emory. She was predeceased by her husband, and two sons.

A memorial service will be held at the Caughman-Harman Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel in Lexington, SC, at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 18, 2017, with visitation from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. prior to the service.

Memorials may be made to The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford, 600 College Street, Oxford, NC 27565.