Obituary: Dorothy Turnage Hightower

Dorothy Turnage Hightower, of Oak Ridge, passed away Feb. 26, 2014, surrounded by family and friends.

She was born May 29, 1941, in Kosciusko, Miss., and later moved to Lake, Miss., and then to Newton, Miss. She graduated from Newton High School and attended the University of Mississippi, Tulane University, the University of Tennessee, and Roane State Community College. She was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity at Ole Miss. She earned an associate’s degree in respiratory therapy from Roane State.

She married her husband of 52 years, J. Robert Hightower, on June 24, 1961.

Dot, as she was known by her friends, moved to Oak Ridge from New Orleans in 1964. A powerful and beautiful force of nature, she was active in many organizations and roles in the community. She was one of the early members of Planned Parenthood Association of the Southern Mountains. She served as president of the Oak Ridge Art Center from 1991-1993 and as president of Ossoli Circle in Knoxville from 1999-2000. She was a graduate of Leadership Oak Ridge, Class of 1993.

In her early years in Oak Ridge, she was a member of the League of Women Voters and taught Sunday School at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. She had strong faith in Christ and was a member of the Women’s Interfaith Dialog Group. She was one of the founding members of the Oak Ridge Institute of Continued Learning (ORICL), and was a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. In 2013, she received a Tributes to the Arts Award presented by the Arts Council of Oak Ridge for her years of support to the Oak Ridge Art Center. She was a commissioner on the Oak Ridge Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, serving as chair of that board in 2013.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Wade Hollingsworth Turnage and Maude McMullan Turnage, and by a brother Wade Hollingsworth Turnage Jr., all of Newton, Miss. In addition to her husband, she is survived by a daughter, Alison Mancuso (husband Peter), of Canton, Mich.; and by three grandchildren: Jonathan, Christopher, and Amanda Mancuso. She leaves many, many friends in Oak Ridge.

Funeral services will be held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge at 3 p.m. on March 8, followed by interment in the Memorial Garden at St. Stephen’s and a reception at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the Oak Ridge Art Center, P.O. Box 7005, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-3305, or to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 212 Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.