Willis Conway DOTSON

                   According to Phil Dotson, son, she died in Little Rock, Arkansas, Pulaski Co.

Letter dated March 18, 1969 shows that "Lida Dotson, LR 88168, Ward #75" was in Benton State Hospital, State Hospital, Arkansas 72158

BIOGRAPHY: Letter from Evelyn Stringfellow to Robert Dotson June 23, 2003

BIOGRAPHY: "...Regarding the spelling of my mother's name, I'm sure it is LIDA as you will
see on the bottom of one of her pictures, in her own handwriting. If she
married Tom Berry in 1930, you can see she was quite a young woman at that time. My father was killed in a car accident when I was about 6years old.  We lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming at that time. My mother came back to her people and, having to earn a livelihood, got a job at the hotel in Huntsville as cook and other duties. She lived on the premises, and Pauline and I were "farmed out" with different relatives. My longest tenure was with Uncle Walter, where I had a good time with my cousin Helen. During this time I saw my mother only occasionally. During this time I saw my mother only occasionally when she could get someone to bring her to me for a visit. These visits were of short duration (two or three hours at a time). The reason I'm telling you this is, if mother and Tom Berry were married in 1930, I was eight years old and had not spent a great deal of time with my mother. My cousin Ruth, who is 87 years old, says my mother was a real asset at the hotel.  She had many friends, she was outgoing, liked to talk and laugh, and was quite attractive. Quoting Ruth she was "quite jolly".

BIOGRAPHY: This is what I know - she was pretty refined. One example of that, she bought a player piano to move to the farm when she and Tom Berry married so I could take piano lessons, which at that time was not exactly the norm. She liked pretty clothes and always dressed nicely in her earlier years, and kept it up as long as I knew her. She and Tom Berry were certainly opposites in many ways. She loved the farm and her cows. She said she was so much happier there than cooped up in the city, which she was when my father was living. He was gone all week as he was a salesman for the J. I. Case Machinery Co.

BIOGRAPHY: I presume Phil has filled you in about life on the farm when he was growing
up. I was gone by the time he was a teenager. By the way, you might see a strong resemblance in your dad and Uncle Willis.

BIOGRAPHY: The Harrisons were very reserved, stoic people except for my mother and Uncle Willis, I am told. They were the outgoing ones, laughing and talking. I hope this will help you understand a little more about your grandmother. She was pretty remarkable. A lot of people thought so."

BIOGRAPHY: Evelyn Stringfellow
Daughter of Lida Harrison Freeman (Dotson)