Dollie Mae Burton

Dollie Mae Fleming Burton was born October 16,1939 in Madison, Arkansas (St. Francis County). She was named for Miss Dollie, a family friend, and in later years she came to be known as Miss Dollie herself. The third child of Jesse Mae Fleming Johnson and Alexander Fleming, she was the first daughter, the apple of her father’s eye, and cherished by her mother who, as Dollie loved to tell it, never let her feet touch the ground.

Dollie was preceded in death by her husband Claude E. Burton in 2025, and over the years, she lost her siblings Lee Franklin Fleming, Alexander Fleming, Jr., Ima Jean Fleming Foster, Billy Gene Fleming, Willie Seamon Fleming, and Albert Fleming. She is survived by her sisters Ardell Fleming and Linda Faye Fleming.

A proud graduate of Lincoln High School, a segregated school in Forrest City, Arkansas, Dollie was a member of the class of 1957. Her friends were her first cousins and others who joined them. According to them, she was the leader of their group. Up until a few years ago, she attended annual high school reunions.

At seventeen, Dollie joined the nation’s Great Migration, leaving Arkansas for Chicago to live with her maternal grandmother, Nellie Johnson Black. She married Horace W. Bulger, Jr. and welcomed her daughter Stephanie before later divorcing. In 1964, she married Claude E. Burton, known as Gene, a U.S. Army infantryman, and together they had two more children, Anthony and Shari Nicole. Her years as a military spouse were among her most treasured. From base to base and city to city, Dollie embraced each new chapter with a sense of adventure that she instilled in her children. Following Gene's military disability, the family settled in Detroit for eight years before relocating to El Paso and then Austin, Texas, where Dollie enjoyed exploring foods from the southwest and the pleasure of growing beautiful roses in both desert and humid climates for the remainder of her life.

Fulfilling a lifelong ambition rooted in the example of her grandfather Papa, a sharecropper and carpenter who believed that education was the path out of one's circumstances, Dollie earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso. She went on to become a childcare development professional and founded Golden Apple Day Care, stemming from her passion for nurturing children that had taken root during her years in Detroit. She later served as a substitute teacher and retired from the Round Rock School District. Her heart was vast and generous, and it belonged especially to children and those in need.

Dollie's joys were many: family and faith, fishing, the novels of Danielle Steel, gardening, and the western films she had loved since childhood when she and her siblings watched movies from the balcony of the theater in Forrest City. She accepted Jesus Christ at a young age and carried her faith throughout her life. For more than fifty years, she was devoted to attending reunions of her large extended family, and was a steadfast Aunt Dollie, Grandma Dollie, and Mom to all who were lucky enough to call her that. She spent decades tracing her family's genealogy on both her mother's and father's sides, determined to discover the story of where they came from.

Dollie leaves a legacy that reaches well beyond the span of her years. She showed us that survival means more than simply enduring. It means remembering where you came from, treating every person with dignity, pursuing excellence, and always keeping moving.

Her love and life force carry on in her children Stephanie R. Bulger (Glenn Oliver), Anthony E. Burton (Nicole Palmer), and Shari Nicole Burton; grandchildren Brittany A. Gibson (Ian), Bryce A. J. Burton, Bryant J. A. Burton, Griffin A. Burton, and Devyn L. Burton; great grandchildren Scout M. Gibson and Sullivan M. Gibson; and her beloved nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

She will never be forgotten.