Dorothy (“Dot”) Leigh Eppright, of Austin, died on March 19, 2020, three days shy of her 105th birthday. Dot was born on March 22, 1915, in McKinney, Texas, to Henry Thomas Leigh and Rena Maude Ogilvie Leigh and was raised on the family farm in Melissa, Texas.
After attending public schools in Melissa and McKinney, Dot attended and graduated from Trinity University in 1936, which was then located in Waxahachie. After graduating from Trinity, Dot lived and taught school in San Antonio to bi-lingual students. During summer breaks in 1940 and 1941, Dot worked in Havana, Cuba translating correspondence from Spanish to English and attended the University of Havana. While in San Antonio, Dot met her future husband, Charles C. Eppright, Jr. They were married on May 25, 1946, and lived for several years in Houston, before moving to Bay City, Texas in 1949. Dot and Charlie had two sons, Charles and David. After David started school, Dot went to work at Bay City Federal Savings & Loan Association. She began work as a teller and served as one of the first female officers of the Association for many years before her retirement in 1980.
After retirement, Dot was active in many civic organizations and clubs in Bay City, including the Pilot Club, Friends of the Bay City Library, Matagorda County Museum, and Bay City Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Bay City. Dot loved to travel and traveled to Cuba, Mexico, Hawaii, Seattle, San Francisco, Montreal, Boston, London, and Israel, among other places. She was an avid game player and loved to teach others, including her grandchildren, how to play the games she loved. Dot lived in Bay City until 2005, when she moved to Austin to be closer to her family. While in Austin, she resided at the Continental Retirement Community and Brookdale Westlake Hills. She was loved by everyone around her for her kindness, big smile, and good nature. She never went anywhere without her signature red lipstick.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Charlie. She is survived by her sons, Charles Eppright and wife, Patsy, of Austin and David Eppright and wife, Scarlett, of Pensacola Beach, Florida, her grandchildren Brian Eppright and wife, Susan, of Lubbock and Megan Matza and husband, Matthew, of Austin, and her great-grandchildren, Elizabeth, Hunter, and William Eppright, and Halliday and Palmer Matza. When asked the key to living a long and happy life-she said “There’s no one I don’t like and if there was, I forgot about them.”
There will be a private graveside service for immediate family at Manor Cemetery
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