Dorothy Margaret Clayton, 92, beloved mother and grandmother, went to be with her Lord and Savior Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, at St. Catherine’s Methodist Hospital in Katy, Texas.
She was born in Norfolk, Va., June 30, 1925, the daughter of Sidney Farrow and Sadie Stone of Richmond, Va. She grew up and married in Norfolk, Va., and had two of her four children there. She was married to her husband of 47 years, Lt. Cmdr. Irving B. “Pete” Clayton Jr., a World War II and Cold War veteran who passed away in 1994.
She is survived by her children, Irving B. Clayton III (Pete) of Hollister, Calif., Patti Campbell of Madison, Fla., Carol Clayton of Kingwood, Texas, and Robert Clayton of Gaithersburg, Md.; grandchildren, Traci Buschner of Alexandria, Va., Bryan Buschner of State College, Pa., and Jade Clayton of Harrogate, England.
After attending Maury High School in Norfolk, Va., she worked for the U.S. Army Air Transport Command at Arlington Hall in Arlington, Va., as a cryptographic clerk during World War II in support of Operation Matterhorn. She was very proud of her contribution to the war effort. After marrying a naval aviator, she lived the role of a military wife and mother stationed at Memphis, Tenn., Hutchinson Kansas, Pensacola, Fla., San Diego, Calif., Honolulu, Hawaii, Midway Island, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., and Lakehurst, N.J.
She was a longtime resident of Fairfax, Va., where she worked at First American Bank in McLean and was associated with various charitable organizations. In 1988, she earned her GED certification and enrolled at George Mason University in Fairfax, where she excelled in her course work. She was amazing, a kind and loving person in every way. In 1989, she returned to San Diego and lived in Alpine, Calif., thru 2010, and was a long-term member of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego, before leaving for Kingwood, Texas, to be cared for by her daughter Carol.
She had a passion for politics and always said “someone had to watch them,” loved her flowers, home and yard and supporting her children. She was a strong woman who was the center of the love in our family. A lifelong advocate of education, she helped and was very proud to see that all of her four children earned advanced university degrees. Two of her grandchildren earned doctorate degrees and a third grandchild will attend university in the United Kingdom.
Services for this amazing lady will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, at Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home, Lynnhaven Chapel, 3600 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach. Interment will follow in Woodlawn Memorial Gardens, 6309 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk.
Condolences may be offered to the family at hollomon-brown.com.
