June McMurry Brown Dooley

June McMurry Brown Dooley died October 20, 2025, in Baptist Oktibbeha County Hospital at age 100. June Brown Dooley was born July 2, 1925, in Woman's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. She was the eldest child of two children born to Kate McMurry Brown and Henry French Brown, Sr.
Her early life began before the Great Depression. As a three-year-old child she began her journey with ear infections and hearing impairment, losing part of her hearing to severe infections before the advent of penicillin. During the Depression her maternal grandmother, recently widowed, moved in with young June and her family. At five, she welcomed her beloved and adored brother, Henry French Brown, Jr. The bond between the two was unbreakable and she said, "I treated him like my own baby doll."
As a young girl she lived on the West End of Nashville in a little neighborhood on Chesterfield Avenue. June loved elementary school, and she often recounted stories of her friends and teachers at Cavert School and Ransom School to which she walked with her friends. As a teenager she attended West End High School where she graduated at 16. She loved learning her entire life which led her to George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1942 and complete a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences. She was a laboratory assistant for two imminent biologists, Dr. Jesse M. Shaver and Dr. Frances R. Bottum, who mentored and encouraged her interest in science. After graduation she trained as a medical technologist.
During and after World War II, she worked as a medical technologist in a private medical practice, Nashville General Hospital, and Nashville Veteran's Affairs Hospital. She was good at her work and enjoyed it immensely. During this time, she met her future husband, Toy B. Dooley, a WWII veteran of the U.S. Army, while he was completing his degree at Vanderbilt University.
In 1948, June's parents moved to Destin Florida and built a house, Gull House, on Choctawhatchee Bay. June moved with her parents and was upended in her career journey which prompted her marriage in December 1948 to her husband, Toy B. Dooley. A year later the couple welcomed their daughter, Katherine. The couple built a house on the family farm outside of Ridgely, Tennessee where they lived together for 68 years until her husband's death in 2016. Afterward, she moved to Starkville, MS to live with her daughter, Katherine.
She was a stay-at-home mom and farmer's wife until her daughter left home for college. She began her second career as a high school teacher of biology and science. Ultimately, she taught Advanced Biology, Biology, and General Science with one foray into teaching Chemistry at Lake County High School. During her teaching career she finished a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in Biological Science at Murray State University, KY. She received the "Distinguished Teacher Award" from the Tennessee Education Association in 1972 and was a Tennessee delegate to several National Education Association (NEA) conferences. She completed the Master Teacher Certification in Tennessee. She was proud of her career in teaching, and it brought her great joy to help her students.
June loved her family, her dogs and cats, and furry creatures of all types. She enjoyed studying and talking about science and the natural world. She loved words and reading and learning new things. She was creative and worked on projects from an early age, drawing, painting, creating crafts, and hand sewing. She was skilled at embroidery, cross-stitch, and a variety of needle crafts. She was a creative cook with cakes and cookies, her specialty. As a young woman, she loved to dance and walk the beach enjoying the feel of sand beneath her feet.
From her youth, June was involved with the church. Her father was a member of the Christian Church and her mother the Church of Christ. June was baptized in her early teens and faithful to her Christian faith until her death. She suffered many, many physical illnesses, problems, and crises across her long life, but was sustained by her strong Scottish constitution and her faith in our Lord. Like her brother, French, she was unwavering in her belief in her faith, and love of her family and her friends.
She is survived by her daughter Dr. Katherine McMurry Dooley of Starkville, MS; one grandson, Jon Keith Dickey (Lisa) of Ridgely; and two great-grandchildren, Christina Davin Freeman (Jeff) of Dyersburg, TN and Anna Davin Flowers (Tolar) of Newbern, TN, and two great-great grandchildren, Addison Claire Freeman and Gage Powell Freeman of Dyersburg, Tennessee.
Visitation is scheduled for Saturday, November 15, 2025 from 10:00-11:00; AM at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Starkville, MS, followed by the service at 11:00 AM.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection Choir Fund, Starkville, M.S. or to George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, T.N.