Dorothy Stirling Obituary

STIRLING, Dorothy SPARTANBURG, SC - Dorothy Pritchett Stirling, known to all as Dotty, 92, died peacefully in Spartanburg, SC on December 12, 2006. Dotty was born on July 22, 1914 in Manila, the Philippines, where her father, U.S. Army Colonel Edwin Eastman Pritchett was stationed. Dotty was the second of three daughters of Col. Pritchett and his wife Mary Cutler Pritchett. After graduating from the University of Chattanooga in 1935, she married the Very Reverend James Stirling in 1939. Throughout their shared ministry they lived in Lookout Mountain, TN, Gainesville, FL, San Diego, CA, Nashville, TN, Auburn, AL, West Palm Beach, FL, and Columbia, SC. Her ministry was one of outreach ~ teaching Spanish to adults in Chattanooga, serving as a radio reader for the Commission for the Blind, as a crisis counselor for Contact Help, as a tutor to young children at Camp Fornance, and as a visitor and reader at Still Hopes in Columbia. For the past 15 years, she lived in Spartanburg where she was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent. She responded to the challenges of her communities, and as a wife and mother, she was steadfast in her devotion, commitment, support, and love for her family. She has left her mark in her own understated, quiet way, and her loving touch is apparent in many lives. She is survived by three children, Bill Stirling of Aspen, CO; Ann Stirling of Charleston, SC; and Judy Stirling McCravy of Spartanburg, SC; two daughters-in-law, Debby Stirling of Carrboro, NC and Wylly Stirling of Mobile, AL; two sons-in-law, Michael O'Connell of Charleston and Hearon McCravy of Spartanburg; eleven grandchildren: Matt Stirling of Durham, NC, Jamie Stirling of Asheville, NC, Jane Stirling Clarke of Columbia, SC, Julia Stirling of Mobile, AL, Stirling Bomar of New York, NY, Martha Bomar of Durham, NC, Ann Bomar, John Bomar, and Elizabeth Bomar, all of Spartanburg, SC, Ian O'Connell and Molly O'Connell of Charleston, SC. She was predeceased by two sons, Ted Stirling of Sewanee, TN, and the Rev. Doug Stirling of Mobile, AL, two grandsons, Alex Stirling of Mobile, AL, and Patrick O'Connell of Charleston, SC, and a daughter-in-law Katharine Thalberg of Aspen, CO. The burial and memorial Eucharist will be held at 12 Noon on Saturday, January 13that Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, SC with the Rev. Dr. Clay H. Turner celebrating, along with the Rev. Billy Shand and the clergy of the Cathedral. Prior to the service she will be buried with her husband Jim in the churchyard of Trinity. Memorials may be sent to Kanuga Conference Center at P. O. Box 250, Hendersonville, NC 28793, or to the Ted Stirling Scholarship Fund at Sewanee: The University of the South at 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.lanforddunbar.com. Dunbar Funeral Home & Crematory. Visit our guestbook at www.charleston.net/deaths.