Dottie White Harden

Remarks By Ray Baggett And Monroe Wood:

"For years, when we (myself and Monroe) would visit Warner Robins, Dottie would, at times, join us for coffee or a drink. We always considered Dottie to be one of our best friends and have great admiration for her, mainly because Dottie has proven to be such a strong, resilient, and resourceful person over the years, raising and supporting her children on her own.....sent them to college, too. It took a lot of courage to do what she did. Dottie never brought anyone to any of our gatherings, always alluding to someone named, "Jim", supposedly a boyfriend. For years, there was much speculation by Monroe and I that Jim, the boyfriend, who was never seen, even existed. The fact that Jim flew under the radar for so long made him a mystery person, possibly even fictitious. Jim finally appeared just a few short years ago. When we asked Dottie to submit a bio for the web page, she replied with the following:"

"The truth is pretty much unbelievable. Jim did exist, but he'd been married twice and did not want to try that again. And I'd promised God, if he'd help me get out of my first one, I would never make that mistake again! But 20 yrs. later, we decided: Why not give marriage one more shot? Many people came to the wedding just to see if we'd really do it! Now it's been almost 6 yrs. and we're still glad we took the "plunge"! So that's about it: five kids between us, and 8 grandkids."

From Monroe Wood:

“Yep, I was at that wedding, I told her that they had been married for years, now they just made it "official". How wonderful it is to see their love for each other. I first saw Dottie in the summer of '54 or '55 (12 or 13 years old) with a basketball in her hand going through drills with her dad, and fell in love right away and little did I realize that the love and friendship would last for over 50 years. Everyone that knows that gal loves her. I think Jim has gotten use to it by now. I think Warner Robins and Houston County are better places because Dottie cared and stood up when it counted. What a blessing we all have had added to our lives by knowing and loving our friend and hero "Dottie", Good Mom, Good Cop, .....Good Grief.” 

Dottie’s reply:

“Y’all are too kind!! I was planning to delete anything you and Monroe had to say, but my goodness, I am honored and surprised!! It almost sounds like stuff you'd make up for a funeral, when the person didn't exactly lead an angelic life and you're trying to come up with something nice! But you and Monroe sound sincere!”