Dorothy Candler Hamilton was born Oct. 29, 1934, in Atlanta. She died Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the age of 81.
She was the daughter of Dorothy Warthen Candler and John S. Candler II of Atlanta.
Mrs. Hamilton graduated in 1952 from Washington Seminary (Atlanta), one of the precursor institutions to The Westminster Schools. There she was selected by her peers for May Court and participated in the Phi Pi Sorority. She was a 1953 member of the Atlanta Debutante Club.
Following an outstanding record at the Seminary, she attended Sweet Briar College in Virginia and continued to excel academically — “effortlessly,” according to classmates who also described her as “an effervescent extrovert” and “thoughtfulness personified.” Noteworthy activities and recognition at Sweet Briar included being tapped for Chung Mung, a special honor society recognizing students who foster a spirit of enthusiasm toward the College and its traditions. She was elected President of Chung Mung, a reflection of her popularity and leadership. She was a garland bearer at May Court, involved in Bum Chum, the YWCA, and the Social Committee. In 1956, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in American History.
After graduation, Mrs. Hamilton utilized her considerable intellect and historical knowledge as a research assistant at the Atlanta Historical Society. She and Joseph W. Hamilton Jr., married in 1957 in Atlanta, and, from that point on, she devoted herself entirely to her family and to her husband’s success in establishing the Hamilton Insurance Agency, later the Hamilton Dorsey Alston Company.
She found time to participate fully in the Atlanta Junior League, where she served as president from 1968-69. Mrs. Hamilton also served as a Trustee of the Camp Merrie-Woode Foundation, Sapphire, North Carolina.
She also joined a group of erudite and enterprising Atlanta mothers who developed “The Kudzu-Ivy Guide to Southern Colleges” to provide a ready resource for their own children and their friends’ children on colleges in the region. She remained vitally interested in history and carried out that devotion as a member of the 19th Century History Class, a group of 30 women in Atlanta who have been presenting formal papers to each other since 1885.
While her home most of her life was Atlanta, she also felt “at home” in Warthen (Washington County) the home place of her mother, Dorothy Warthen Candler, or in Lakemont, where she and her husband kept a second home for more than 40 years. She and Mr. Hamilton devoted much of their volunteer time and resources to causes important to the county’s welfare. They were instrumental in establishing a new animal shelter there, which is now known as Paws 4 Life. They constantly supported special events and charitable activities of the Lake Rabun Association.
She loved family reunion trips at Litchfield and Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, and had a reputation among her grandchildren for being a remarkably agile boogie boarder. In later years, she and her husband enjoyed the fellowship of friends — new and old — at Lenbrook Square.
Mrs. Hamilton is survived by her husband, Joseph Wilcox Hamilton Jr., and their children, Joseph W. Hamilton III, and his wife, Margaret Douglas Hamilton; John Candler Hamilton and his wife, Susan Tickle Hamilton; and Elizabeth “Betsy” Hamilton Verner and her husband, William Henry Verner; and nine grandchildren, John Candler Hamilton Jr., and his wife, Rebecca Vinson Hamilton, Reid Justus Hamilton, Elizabeth Tillman Hamilton, Virginia Blanton Hamilton, Catherine Candler Hamilton, Frances Warthen Hamilton, Mary Charles Hamilton, Dorothy Elizabeth Verner, and Josephine Estes Verner; her brother John S. “Jack” Candler Jr. and his wife, Katherine “Kay” Birdsong Candler, her brother-in-law, Edgar Blanton Hamilton, and his wife Edith Moore Hamilton, and five nieces and nephews and 13 great-nieces and great-nephews.
The memorial service for Dorothy Candler Hamilton was held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Atlanta) on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, at 11 a.m. The family received friends immediately following the service in the Hamilton Room at St. Luke’s. There will be a memorial service at Lakemont at a later date.
Arrangements made by H. M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill Chapel, 404-261-3510.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Lake Rabun Foundation — Scholarship Fund (P.O. Box 114, Lakemont, Georgia 30552), The Westminster Schools’ William L. Pressly Scholarship Fund (1424 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30327), the Whitefield Academy “4th and 10 Fund” (1 Whitefield Drive, SE, Mableton, Georgia 30126); or the Camp Merrie-Woode’s Fritz and Augusta Orr Endowment (100 Merrie-Woode Road, Sapphire, North Carolina 28774) or any worthy charitable organization.
The family would like to express its appreciation to the staff of Lenbrook Square, particularly the caregivers on the third floor.
The Clayton Tribune, Sept. 15, 2016
