Dorothy Beale

BEALE, Dorothy "Dot" Frances Perkinson, 86, died November 25, 2009 at Southampton Memorial Hospital. She was born in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1922, a daughter of the late William Norman and Mary Murray Perkinson. She was predeceased by her dear husband of 56 years, James Chesley Beale Jr. Mrs. Beale was also predeceased by her two sisters, Mary P. Tyler and Virginia Ann P. White; and two nephews, Robert S. White and W. Steele Beale Jr. Dot's family moved to Keysville when she was a baby. She attended Ash Camp Baptist Church as a young girl. In elementary school, her family returned to live in Highland Park in Richmond. She and her family were members of Northside Baptist Church. Dot graduated from John Marshall High School in 1940 and Madison College in Harrisonburg. She pursued her degree in dietetics at Duke University. Raiford Memorial Hospital hired Dot to be its' dietitian. Dot met Chet soon after she moved to Franklin and became a homemaker when she and Chet were married. In 1963, she went to work as the dietitian at Southampton Memorial Hospital. Southampton County Public Schools hired Mrs. Beale in the seventies to be its' first School Food Service Supervisor. Dot retired in 1980. She was an active member of Franklin Congregational Christian Church where she taught Sunday School for many years. She served on the Board of Deacons and was a president of the Women's Fellowship. As a servant of Christ, our Savior, she clothed herself "with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Col 3, vs 12. She always gave of herself to others. She is survived by two daughters, Mary Alice Beale and Dorothy Beale Panissidi and husband, Kenneth; one son, James Chesley Beale III, all of Franklin; three grandchildren, Chelsea and Christen Panissidi and Adam Tyler; two nieces, Nancy W. Chaffin-Grigg and Mary Sue Wimer; two great-nephews, Joseph and William Chaffin; a great-great-nephew, Evan Chaffin; and two sisters-in-law, Sibyl Beale of Franklin and Nancy B. Guin of Shreveport, La. The funeral will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday, December 1, in the chapel of Wright Funeral Home with the Rev. James H. Hyatt officiating. Interment will follow in Poplar Spring Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the residence and suggests memorials be made to Franklin Congregational Christian Church, 412 North High Street, Franklin, Va. 23851. wrightfuneralhome.org


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.