Dorothy Jean Haston Basham, age 89, was born August 13, 1935. She was a resident of Viola, Tennessee, and a native of Van Buren County, TN. A patient at NHC McMinnville when she passed from this life. She was a member of the Church of Christ. She was the daughter of Imogene Dodson Haston and Montgomery Greenville Haston. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Joe Bob and sons Jimmy and Ricky, sister Lanore, several brothers-in-law, sister-in-law and nephews.
Dorothy is survived by sons Jerry and Steve of McMinnville. She was the grandmother of five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, one brother-in-law and two sisters-in-law.
Dorothy was born in Spencer, Tennessee, in the jail, while her daddy was the county sheriff. Her mother was pregnant with her second child, Lanore, when Dorothy was 10 months old. While trying to arrest a man named “Clark”, her daddy was shot and killed. Dorothy’s mother completed her husband’s term and became Tennessee’s first female sheriff.
Dorothy was a hard-working wife and mother raising four boys and working gathering eggs in their chicken houses. Later in life, she took a job with the USDA traveling several counties doing farm statistics. She enjoyed the interaction with the many people she met as she visited. She was always keeping up with the price of corn, soybeans, etc. She was an avid fan of country music. Dorothy loved her family and all types of flowers and traveling.
The family would like to thank everyone for coming, the cards, phone calls, condolences, and verbal expressions of sympathy. A special thank you to NHC for the good care given to their mother, to her sitter Sandra Lyle, to McMinnville Funeral Home for their caring services, and to Tommy Thaxton – a cousin of Joe Bob’s for delivering the eulogy. Private services were held.
