Dorothy Wiley

Service pending at Grace Baptist ChurchEarly in the morning on April 13, 2012, Dorothy Dean Wiley took the hand of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and entered her heavenly home. She is survived by her children Paul Garland Wiley, Jr. (LaVada), Stephen Todd Wiley, Sr. (Sylvia), and Deanie Wiley Moore (Tom); 12 grandchildren, and 21 great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband of nearly 70 years, Rev. Paul G. Wiley, Sr., parents Charles Hermon and Clemmie Tucker Dean, brothers Charles Hermon Dean, Jr. (Nan), and Benjamin Tucker Dean, and grandchildren John and Hannah Wiley.

Dorothy was born March 4, 1916, in the family home in Brookhaven, Mississippi. She graduated Brookhaven High School, 1934; attended Hinds Junior College in Raymond, Mississippi, graduated Mississippi State College for Women in 1939, with a major in Bacteriology and a minor in Chemistry; and the Women’s Missionary Union Training School in Louisville, KY, 1941 with a degree in Religious Education. While a student at WMUTS she met Paul Wiley, who was a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They were married in Canton, Mississippi on November 6, 1941.

As a Pastorís Wife for their almost 70 years of marriage she managed the home, taught all ages in Sunday School and Training Union, worked with womenís mission groups, and supported her husband as she ministered at his side. For over 20 years she organized a Thanksgiving Dinner for young adults who were away from their families.

She understood the power of prayer, and established a daily routine that began with reading her Bible, a devotional book, praying by name for missionaries having a birthday that day, and praying specifically for a person who had sent a Christmas card the year before. In later years, she and Paul added lists of family and friends to pray for each day. They were diligent at it, and never missed a day, even when one or the other of them was in the hospital.

In addition to these things she taught hundreds of children and adults to play the piano until her retirement in 2003. As an active member of the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association Scholarship program she sold thousands of pounds of pecans and was known as the ìNut Lady.î And in her spare time she prepared fruit and vegetables from the garden for canning and freezing, planning what her students would play for recitals and yearly piano festivals, planning programs for W.M.U. and outings for the Mt. Vernon Association Minister’s Wives, writing letters, crocheting, sewing, composing and arranging music, baking goodies for parties and receptions, whatever needed to be done, she did it, and did it well.