Dorothy "Dottie" Beal Russ

Dorothy Beal Russ-Conley, AKA Dorothy Lee May Beal, but really, just Dottie was born in Washington DC on May 9 1932 to Earl and Bernice Beal. Her family heritage includes Bell's and Sullivan's on her mother’s side, and a Gunnel married in there somewhere. In the late 1960's she married William "Bill" Russ, a submarine commander who retired as a Captain in the Navy. They had a son in 1970, William "Billy" Russ. Dottie married a second time to Robert "Bob" Conley in 1999.

Dottie grew up on Veazey St in Tenleytown. She started her education at Phoebe Hurst Elementary School in Washington DC, then went to St Anne's Catholic School in Washington DC through 8th grade, and graduated from Immaculata Preparatory Catholic High School in Washington DC. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Dunbarton College in Washington DC, with pursuit of graduate work at American University in Washington DC.

Dottie had a vision of the future and where she wanted her career to go in college when she and a friend had read a TIME magazine article about how computers would change society. Her career life began as a math teacher back at her alma mater, Immaculata High School in Washington DC. She then went on to be a secretary at the radio stations WMAL and WTOP, and then for television channel WRC Channel 4. During this time, she was noted in the American Women in Radio and Television. After this, she went to IBM to work as a Systems Engineer working with FORTRAN and supporting the upgrade of hospital record systems from paper to computers. While at IBM, she also taught employees and customers DOS, ALC, COBOL, and several computer concept courses. During her time with IBM, she was honored with the designation as an Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1967. After taking some time off to be a mom, she started teaching again at Northern Virginia Community College where she taught Computer Programming Concepts and COBOL. After getting back into the workforce teaching, she got picked up by a company called SAI, which became SAIC, and she spent over 23 years with them. While at SAI she supported the US Air Force Data Service Center, was the task lead for the USACSC System Change Request System and the Military Police Management Information System, did software testing and quality control for the Naval Military Personnel Command Personnel Records Online System and the US Army Computer Systems Command, was a Systems Analyst for the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan for the Military Sealift Command and the Schedule Algorithm for Improving Lift portion of the new SEASTRAT system being designed for the Military Sealift Command. With SAIC, she developed the training courses for personnel in the Theater Mission Planning Center and Mission Data Preparation Systems, and became a Senior Systems Analyst for the Cruise Missile Program.

Dottie’s greatest and most proud accomplishment was being a mother. This was her longest relationship, 51 years. She provided a great life for Billy as a single working mother when he was a child. They would go to the circus, ice capades, zoo, see the Harlem Globetrotters, see big movies opening week, and go to sporting events just to name a few of the things they did together. Dottie always made sure Billy had the best birthday parties surrounded by friends and wonderful Christmas mornings. She was able to spend her last few months living with him and his family Jansen and Braedan. Billy was her pride and joy, and he will miss her dearly.

Her 2nd longest relationship was with Bob Conley, which began in 1977. After a 21 year courtship, they married in 1999. They were together for 43 years, and they loved to travel. Of course, they went to Hawaii, both by plane and cruise. They also cruised to Alaska, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Europe (England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Belgium, Holland), and the Canadian Maritime Islands. Bob coaxed to her into idea of train travel, which they used to take a cross country trip, visit the Greenbrier for Holidays, and travel to Florida for 4 winters.

Dottie’s traveling wasn’t limited to her and Bob. As a child, her aunt had a beach house in Beverly Beach the family and friends would go to in the summer, and as a teen they would go to Atlantic City. She traveled to Mexico in college when one of her friend’s family was stationed there diplomatically. She took advantage of Bill’s duty stations in the Navy to explore Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Manilla, Japan and parts of the US she hadn’t visited yet. And, when she became a mom, she made sure to have fun family vacations. They would go to Atlantic City before it became a gambling town to see the horse jumpers and dive bell, go to Rehobeth beach and play the games on the boardwalk, relax at Bethany Beach, fish and snorkel in Key West, try something new at Hilton Head Island, and of course Disney when you have a child.

Anyone who knew Dottie, knew she had a pension for fashion. This started at an early age. She always had the nicest dresses for all the dances and events. Modeling was a hobby in her 20’s, where she was able to put her beauty and style to work. She was the spokesmodel for several DC businesses, and represented them on holiday floats. After retirement, she was motivated to participate in the 1997 Ms. Senior Virginia Pageant, where she was 2nd Runner Up. Dottie was even an extra in a movie, The First Kid, where she played an elegantly dressed dignitaries wife ad a huge gala.

Dottie had a love for animals, dogs in particular. This started when she was a child where her parents had an American Bulldog and a series of Collies in the home. She continued with her 2 beloved Poodles, Fluffy and Lucky, the occasional large dogs she fostered, and onto her son’s 2 labs. She was always donating to dog and pet related charities.

Dottie was a Washingtonian through and through, all the way to her deep love for the Redskins. She and her first husband Bill had season tickets, which she wrenched from him in the divorce. She passed on this support of the home town team to her son Billy, when they would consistently go to games at RFK. She even took him to the Super Bowl in Pasadena when the Redskins beat the Dolphins. She really had hoped that Jack Kent Cooke would have left the team to his son John Kent Cooke. She gave Snyder a chance, but then gave him a piece of her mind in a politely worded scathing letter about how bad the parking situation and overall experience was.

Dottie liked to be involved in the community. She was a devout Catholic, committing most of her adult faith at Good Shepherd in Alexandria. She was a lector there for over 25 years. She offered free math tutoring at Riverside Elementary School in the mid to late 1970s, volunteered for over 500 hours at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, and formed a Hawaiian Dance Group at the Hollin Hall Senior Center. She was a member of the Red Hatters and the Sigma Phi Gamma International Sorority.

Dottie’s biggest hobby was hula dancing! She has danced and taught all over the US, to include competing in Hawaii. She began back in the 1960’s and was continuing to do the hand movements in Zoom meetings with a dance group during COVID in 2020. An interesting note, she even went on a few dates with Don Ho, the singer famous for Tiny Bubbles. She carried on her love of dance when she joined a Liturgical Dance Group and started to tap dance after she retired.

Dottie Russ was an intelligent, caring, classy, and beautiful woman. Her determination and compassion were enviable. She was a mother, daughter, wife, friend, teacher, and so much more to the people whose life she touched. She will be missed.

On January 4, 2022, Dorothy Beal Russ-Conley of Alexandria, Virginia passed away. She is survived by her beloved husband Robert John Conley and son, William (Bill) Raymond Russ of Lorton, Virginia, his wife Jansen Lorraine Russ, their son Braedan Alfonsas Zalys, and Dorothy’s cousins Carl Bayne of Sarasota, Florida and Carolyn Baker of Falls Church, Virginia.

Viewing and visitation will be on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 from 5-8pm at Demaine Funeral Home in Alexandria, Virginia.

The funeral will be held on January 13, 2022 at 10:30am at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria. The funeral will be live streamed at this link, https://youtu.be/GnSWDYdaExc

The reception details are TDB as COVID restrictions allow.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in honor of Dorothy to one of these charities:

Good Shepherd Catholic Church of Alexandria

https://www.gs-cc.org/donate/

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate

https://checkout.mountvernon.org/donate/q/donate?promo=51776