By D.M. Kamecke
CAIRO — Dot the I’s and cross the T’s could be Dottie True’s personal motto. The long-term Cairo volunteer just turned 90 and she’s still getting things done and doing them right. Since her early 20s Dot has been on a mission to help her neighbors and improve the community.
Some people would say that Dot is not a true “local” having grown up in NYC and moving to this area as a junior in high school. However, as a child, she spent several summers at her grandmother’s in East Durham riding horses and getting to know the neighbors, including the guy who invented sunglasses for chickens. But that’s another story. Dot is full of them. She attributes her skill in telling tales to the Irish blood on one side of her family. She also admits that she loves to talk and is pretty much willing to do it with anyone.
Dot’s early volunteer efforts include being secretary of the Cairo-Durham School Alumni Association and getting certified by the Red Cross to teach swimming classes and water safety. She was also a Brownie and Girl Scout leader, and later, became a Literacy Volunteer.
Her first large, community project involved County Routes 24 and 39 in Round Top. Dot felt that Greene County could and should do better road maintenance. With a core group of other volunteers and support from local resorts, Dot convinced County leaders to make upgrades including repaving the roads.
That was the County’s first encounter with Dot but not the last. Her next mission was to open up the viewshed on Mountain Ave leading to Purling. The fields along that road had become overgrown diminishing the spectacular view of the mountains. Joining her in this effort were Legislators Harry Lennon and Bill Lawrence. The County cleared the fields and planted flower seeds. They were starting to learn that it was better to join Dot than fight her.
Dot went on to become a Cairo Public Library Trustee where she took on the additional duties of treasurer for 20 years. Dot was one of five trustees on the Library Board who, with library staff and additional volunteer committee members, wound their way through the morass of local, state, and federal legislation to move a new library project forward. While community support was high, detractors were extremely vocal and the pressure was intense to keep construction costs down for the All-American built facility. Dot’s sheer tenacity in getting state and local officials to return phone calls became legend and her list of contacts resulted in what jokingly became known as Dot’s “Little Black Book.”
Now retired Legislator Bill Lawrence, who was a member of the new Library Building and Finance Committees, calls Dottie, a “force of nature.” Current Legislator Harry Lennon, another strong library supporter and fundraising volunteer, has known Dottie his whole life. According to Lennon, Dot has always been involved in “doing the good work.” Joining him on the current Greene County Legislature is Dot’s daughter Sherry True who attributes the family’s commitment of giving back to the community to her mother’s modeling of the process.
Dot and her husband George were married for 49 years before his death in 2004. They also have a son George and daughter Susan along with two grandsons.
Dot is a member of the Round Top Ladies Auxiliary and a former member of the American Legion Auxiliary. She has been active in the local quilt-making group, the Cairo Piecemakers, who donate quilts to children with cancer, to veterans, and for library fundraisers.
Currently, Dottie is on the Greene County Human Services Department – Aging Advisory Council. She is also one of the members of a small group of volunteers who are on a mission to get a new Senior Center in Cairo. The current site, owned by the town and rented by the county to provide meals to seniors, is in rough shape.
Dot says that “seniors pay taxes, the police don’t have to come after us” and, therefore, “we deserve better.” Cairo has purchased the former dojo building on Route 32 but it needs rehabbing including water and sewer upgrades. The need for funding continues. Dot reports that when the building is habitable, “just roll me in and then I’m done.”
Maybe. At a recent celebration at Living Stone, with some 60 people in attendance who came from all over the country, Dot pointed to a photo of her 80th birthday party saying, “now it’s my 90th. Hold on for the next one.” How can we not?
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