Dorothy Vest

Dorothy "Maw" Vest

Brownsville, TX

Dorothy Jean Cowe Vest of Dallas, Texas, died peacefully on January 7, 2013 at the age of 93, with her daughter and grandson by her side.

She was born in 1919 in Villa Nueva, near Brownsville, Texas, the fourth child of Carroll Crowe and Louise Austin Crowe.

In 1939 she married John William Vest who took her to his home in Mississippi. He predeceased her in 1981. His love of tennis led to a career for them both in teaching, running city tennis centers, and building tennis courts.

Dorothy "Maw" Vest became well known for her many achievements and awards in the sport of tennis, including induction in to the Mississippi Tennis Hall of Fame, the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Sports hall of Fame, and 1979 USTA Tennis Family of the Year. However, she felt her greatest achievement was the number of tennis students she taught the love of the game as well as good sportsmanship.

After her retirement for her 30 year career as the City of Jackson Tennis Director, she moved back to her beloved Brownsville, Texas, where she started another career as a volunteer for the Republican Party as President of the Brownsville branch, among many other volunteer activities. The achievement she was most proud of was running the campaign of future president, Ronald Reagan, for the Texas valley. She spent seventeen years here in "retirement."

At the age of 80, she moved back to Jackson to be near family, but then at the age of 88 she missed her Texas and asked her daughter, Carol Ann, who lived in Dallas, to come and get her. She spent the last years in declining health, before finally succumbing to old age, but fought it to the very end.

She is survived by three children, Carol Ann Vest of Dallas, Texas; Allen Austin Vest, and his wife, Peggy of Pearl, Mississippi; Rebecca Louise Vest and her husband, Alan Avdoyen of Mandeville, Louisiana; five grandchildren, Carol Elizabeth Vest and her husband, Rick Coleman; Allen Vest, Jr., Stephanie Vest Rogers and her husband, Jimmy Rogers; John Dylan Dunn and his wife Duvelsa Acosta; Sarah Vest Thornell and her husband Blake Thornell; one great grandchild, Justin Vest; and three great-great grandchildren, Alana Jade Vest, Genie Marie Vest and Rayne Elise Vest.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame of January 26 at 11 a.m. Visitation will begin at 10:30 a.m. All who knew her and would like to visit with old friends are invited.