Lolete Little

Family-Placed Death Notice

Lolete Dotson Little, died July 6, 2007. She was born on October 20, 1929 in Town Creek, Alabama. Her parents, Clyde J. and Hattie Thigpen Dotson, were pioneer missionaries to South Africa, taking her there when she was 6 months old. She was home schooled as a child, and then was graduated from Wellington, a British boarding school in Rhodesia. Following graduation she returned to Birmingham and her preparation to carry out the purpose for which she felt God had for her, that of missionary nursing in Africa, intensified. She attended Tennessee Temple and then Birmingham Baptist Hospital Nursing School (now Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing) in Birmingham; and then was graduated from Blue Mountain Baptist College in Mississippi where she served as campus nurse. In preparation for her appointment as a missionary nurse to Africa, she received her M.R.E. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She was appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) as a missionary nurse to Nigeria in 1956, and served as a nurse in Ogbomosho, Ire and then Kontogoro until 1963. After four years in Birmingham caring for her youngest sister, Joy, she was reappointed to Nigeria in 1967. She was transferred to South Africa in 1977 due to political unrest. In 1979 she was one of a few missionaries assigned to establish a new mission to Bophuthatswana. As an emeritus missionary having served 25 years in Africa, she moved to Atlanta and worked as a nurse in a retirement home. She then moved back to Birmingham, and worked with the Visiting Nurse Association. Her last years of nursing were spent giving foot care to the elderly. She married Franklin Little in 2004. Mrs. Little never retired, and her passion for educating children and adults about mission needs never waivered. She was always caring for and showing love for all those with whom she came in contact. She was an active member of Mountain Brook Baptist Church. Mrs. Little has reunited with her parents, Clyde J. and Hattie Thigpen Dotson; her brother, John C. Dotson; and her sister, Margaret D. Church. She is survived by her husband, Franklin Little; her sisters, Betty D. Messick (Wiley), Ruth D. Beeler (Warren), Grace D. Webster (Gary) and Joy D. Potter (Norm); step-mother, Annelli Dotson, who served on the mission field with Clyde Dotson. The memorial service will be Tuesday, July 10, 2007, at 11:00 AM at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Lolete Dotson Memorial Fund, c/o Mountain Brook Baptist Church, 3631 Montevallo Road, Birmingham, AL 35213. Ridouts Valley Chapel, Homewood, AL directing. 205-879-3401