Obituary of Dorothy Whitten

A private graveside service for Dorothy DeLoach Whitten, 85, of Shreveport, will be held at 11 AM, Saturday, May 2, at Forest Park West Cemetery with Dr. Greg Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church, conducting the service. The family will receive friends Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Louisiana Funeral Home, 3903 Meriwether Road in Shreveport. Mrs. Whitten passed away Wednesday, Apri1 29, 2009, at The Glen nursing home following a lengthy illness. She was born in Shreveport on February 20, 1924, the daughter of Walter L. and Allie Ridings DeLoach. She attended Baylor University and was always proud of being a Baylor Bear. She later earned a business degree at Centenary College while working as a federal employee for the Eighth Air Force, SAC, at Barksdale Air Force Base, where she was an accountant for nearly thirty years, traveling to bases all over the United States as an auditor for the government. Upon her retirement in 1978, Mrs. Whitten was the highest-ranking female civil service employee at Barksdale. During her early life in Shreveport, Mrs. Whitten was a member of Queensborough Baptist Church, later joining First Baptist Church. In addition to her church activities, she loved photography, winning several competitions and enjoying membership in the Shreveport Photographic Society. She also liked taking computer classes and doing needlework after she retired, and she continued to keep up with her first-grade friends from Waco, TX, throughout her life. In addition to being a career woman, she was a loving mother to three children, Bill Whitten, Betty Wilson, and Cathy Sledge, and an adoring grandmother to three grandchildren, Bobby Lewis, Jr., Logan Sledge, and Jessica Sledge. Mrs. Whitten is preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Catherine Arrington. She is survived by her three children, daughter-in-law Rhonda Whitten, three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren (Henry Lewis, Andrew Lewis, Isabelle Lewis, and Sadie Sledge), two nieces (Dorothy Arrington Snowdon and Pattye Arrington Puckett), two nephews (Thomas Arrington and Mark Arrington), and her granddaughters-in-law, Leigh Lewis and Sarah Sledge. All who knew her will remember her sweet smile, gentle nature, and Christian kindness. Donations in her memory may be sent to Shriners Hospital, 3100 Samford Avenue, Shreveport, LA, 71103.