Dorothy Marie Mathews

Dorothy Marie Mathews, of Rural Hall, passed away peacefully on August 2, 2022. She is survived by her husband Nicholas Engel, her stepson Jonathan Engel, granddaughter Isabel Engel, sister Karen Williams and her cat, Alexander.

She was born April 20, 1949 in Dallas Texas to Oneida Trussell Mathews and Joseph Lee Mathews. She received her BA from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1969. In 1975 she married Nicholas and took on the care of his son Jonathan, the two of whom proceeded to drive her bananas for the rest of her life.

In 1978, Dorothy and her new family moved to Rural Hall, North Carolina, where she found a lack of quality Mexican food and a love for computer science. Dorothy received her M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She mastered Cobol and many other now "dead" languages and worked for the City of Winston-Salem for almost two decades before her retirement in 1999.

Dorothy was an active member of the North Carolina Democratic Party for more than forty years and was a loyal volunteer and donor with North Carolina NOW. She pressed and badgered countless city, state and county officials for fifty years and voted her mind at every opportunity.

Dorothy loved: her family, friends, furry creatures, a good mystery (or a trashy romance novel), the music of Lacy J. Dalton and playing bridge. She tolerated pretty much everything else.

Carolina Cremation Center is respectfully serving the family.