Dorothy Jean "Miss Dottie" Stewart Wagley

Dorothy Jean “Miss Dottie” Stewart Wagley, 86, of Dallas, Texas, and longtime resident of Sikeston, Missouri, died peacefully on Thursday, October 22, 2026, in Dallas, surrounded by love. She was born June 3, 1940, in Cottondale, Alabama, to John Hill Stewart and Esther Mae (Mays) Stewart.

If you never had the chance to meet Miss Dottie, please know this: you would have left her company feeling better about yourself than when you arrived.

She grew up on farms in Southeast Missouri before her family settled in Sikeston, where her father drove a truck and was a proud Teamster. Her mother was a talented seamstress, dressmaker and family historian, and from her, Dottie learned early that you take care of the people around you. In 1950, she became big sister to Darrell and then Sondra, and proudly helped parent them. Caring for others became the work of her life.

At Sikeston High School, during desegregation, she saw the cruel treatment of her new Black classmates. It forged in her a conviction that never wavered: you stand up for what is right. She graduated and became the first in her family to go to college, enrolling at the University of Missouri.

On September 7, 1958, she married her high school sweetheart and best friend, Ardith Neal Wagley of Matthews. After a year at Mizzou, she set her own education aside and went to work as assistant to the ROTC commander while Neal finished his degree. Neal always said her support helped him earn his first leadership role.

Then came 24 years as a military wife. Eighteen moves. Every time, she and Neal led together, took care of their family and built a home wherever they landed next. While he served on classified assignments and in Vietnam, she held the household together on her own for months at a time, raising three children with love and good humor. Gentle by nature but fearless when it counted, she was the steady center of their family. When Neal retired from the Air Force as a Colonel and decorated Vietnam veteran, he dedicated his military career to her.

Her business acumen was just as strong. In the 1960s, she sold Avon door to door with two little ones in tow. In the early 1980s, realizing a personal goal, she founded and ran a daycare in Snellville, Georgia, called Short Stops - Smart Starts for Little Learners. Back home in Sikeston, she managed the office at House of Color and the store at Wallpaper 4 Less, where a lifetime of renovating and designing homes during Neal’s military career helped her clients turn their houses into homes.

She loved decorating her own home. Gardening, renovating, creating art, she loved making things beautiful, and nothing made her happier than giving her creations away. She was an excellent cook and a gracious hostess, and her door was always open to family, friends and guests ready to celebrate. She made everything look easy. It wasn’t. Everything she did was done with grace, patience and in service to others.

She was the family matriarch and a trusted confidante to more people than anyone could count. When life knocked you down, she reminded you who you were and what you were capable of. That’s what she did: she made people feel seen and valued. And that unmistakable laugh came from a gift for finding joy in the smallest things, not because life was always easy, but because she believed joy was worth looking for.

She and Neal were longtime members of Shady Acres Church of Christ and Matthews Church of Christ, but her faith showed most in how she loved: generously, without judgment and especially toward those who needed it most. After the death of her husband and best friend, Neal, in 2021, she moved to Dallas to be near her son Christopher.

She lived by her guiding principle, and everyone she encountered felt it: an act of love is never wasted. She was still showing that love in her final days, to her family, to her caregivers and to everyone who came to sit by her side.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 63 years, Neal, in 2021; her daughter, Ellen Paige Wagley; her granddaughter, Jessica Maye Wagley; her parents; and her sister, VerNell Faye Stewart.

Miss Dottie is survived by her children, Ardith N. Wagley II of Dallas, Deborah L. Wagley of Atlanta, and Christopher J. Wagley and his partner, Bentley Tibbs, of Dallas; her bonus daughter, Karla Oliver of Plano, Texas; her granddaughter, Ellie Wagley of Denver, Colorado; her sister, Sondra K. Armour of Sikeston; her brother, Darrell W. Stewart of Mountain Home, Arkansas; and many cherished family and dear friends.

The family is deeply grateful to the caregivers at Serenity Home and Living Hope Hospice for their compassionate care during her final year.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, October 30, at Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston, followed by a memorial service at noon. A burial service will follow at 2 p.m. in the chapel at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, where she will be laid to rest beside Neal. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Children’s Home, Inc. in Paragould, Arkansas, or to KERA Public Broadcasting or Resource Center, both in Dallas.