Dorothy Case Elliott
Leesburg, FL – Dorothy C. Elliott, of Leesburg, Florida, passed away
peacefully on Saturday, September 6. She was 85 years old. A native of
Bennington, Vermont, Dottie (as she was known by all) moved as a young
child with her mother, Dorothy, and beloved Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim
to Los Angeles. Growing up in Hollywood, as she sometimes recalled,
involved taking the tram to the movies, spotting film stars at local
restaurants, and going to school together with celebrity children. A
lifelong interest in politics also began at this time.
While a student at UCLA, she met her husband, Roland, and left school
to raise a family. When her husband took a job in the White House in
1971, Dottie returned to the East Coast and remained there the rest of
her life, eventually going to work in the White House herself during
the Reagan and Bush administrations, bringing with her the remarkable
secretarial skills honed while working as a legal secretary. In
between those periods in Washington, D.C., she lived in Florence,
Massachusetts, where she relocated to care for Roland when he was
stricken with ALS. Later in life, she ran a successful editing and
printing business in Northern Virginia before retiring in 2003 to
central Florida, remaining active for many years, notably in the
community of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, where she and
husband Chuck Bayette were fixtures.
As her many friends can attest, Dottie was an intelligent, well-read
woman of wide interests, strong opinions, and abiding loyalties. She
loved small dogs, clever puns, and ballroom dancing, and believed in
the importance of a balanced checkbook. She played in the bell choir,
could sing the tunes of all the old Broadway musicals, enjoyed cooking
gourmet meals, and loved spending hours in the garden. No stranger to
adversity, Dottie provided wise counsel to all who sought her out.
Dottie was predeceased by husbands Roland (d. 1979) and Chuck (d.
2022) and by grandson Max (d. 2023). She leaves behind her devoted
daughter Sarah (of Connecticut), son Mark (of Massachusetts), and
daughter Shannon (of New York), grandchildren Emily, Jesse, Tyler,
Thomas, and Beth, and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will
be held on Friday, September 12, at 11 am at St. James Episcopal
Church. Donations in her memory may be made to SmileTrain or Doctors
Without Borders.