W. T. Doughtie Sr

W. T. Bill Doughtie, Sr., 83, of Hillsboro died Wednesday, March 24, 2010, at Hill Regional Hospital in Hillsboro. Bill was born October 9, 1926 in Houston to the late Florence Pounds and Simeon Edward Doughtie. He was raised in Bay City and graduated from Bay City High School at the early age of 16 in 1943. He attended a variety of colleges including University of Texas, Kemper Military Jr College in Missouri and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. His college attendance was interrupted by military service. In 1944 he entered the Army but was transferred to the Navy and entered the Naval Officer program and sent to Camp Perry. He was ultimately assigned to the Robert I. Payne destroyer escort in the European theatre. After WWII, he finished college at SMU and graduated in 1949 with a Business Administration Degree. He was President of his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. He was recalled and deployed to active duty for the Korean War and joined the Marines as 2nd Lieutenant. He was in charge of an artillery battery guarding Marine airfields. In 1949 he married Peggy Lee Rhoades and had three children. He returned to Bay City Texas where he joined his father in managing the Peoples' Laundry. He and his family also lived in both Colorado and Wyoming for three years while he worked in the oil field service industry. The family returned to Bay City and Bill assisted in expanding Peoples' Laundry to a three plant operation. During Hurricane Carla in 1961, Peoples' Laundry, under Bill's management, stayed open in order to supply the hospital emergency rooms in the area. In 1969, he moved to Dallas/Irving and married the love of his life, Carolyn Goddard. They were married for 39 years until her death in August of 2008. He retired in 1984 from his employment by the Dallas County/Irving School District Appraisal District. Prior to that he was President of the Texas State Appraiser's Association. After retirement, they moved to East Texas to a place they fondly called Goober Hill near Shelbyville and Center. He enjoyed driving his city born grandchildren around Goober Hill and Red Hill Lake where he taught them to fish, shoot a rifle, herd cows and drive a truck. Bill was a quiet, kind and honorable man who fiercely fought cancer for 10 months and thankfully maintained his wit and humor to the end. Survivors include his three children, Diana Doughtie Callahan and husband, Bill, Tom Doughtie and wife, Cathy, and Andy Doughtie and wife, Jill; five grandchildren: Anne Doughtie, Will Doughtie, Conor Callahan, Laura Doughtie and Anna Lee Doughtie; and Carolyn's family, Julie Bryant and her family, who also got the royal treatment at Goober Hill. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1700 Lake Success Drive, Waco, TX 76710 or First United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 673, Hillsboro, TX 76645.