Dorothy (Gambill) Lepley

Dorothy Gambill Lepley, late of the Edenwald Retirement Facility in Towson, MD, passed away on November 7, 2024 at the age of 103.

A truly joyous individual, who reveled as a Home Economics teacher in three separate Baltimore high schools for 10 years each and later as a very successful real estate agent for 25 years, Dorothy was deeply loved by her students and friends and treasured by the Gambill family in and around Sparta, NC. Her life was a series of major steps for a country girl raised in a family of five siblings in an early 1900's farmhouse in a bend of the New River. Nicknamed "Billie" by her father, she became the family heroine for her determination to overcome all obstacles to her education
and careers.

Dorothy was born in the family home on June 22, 1921. Her parents were Robert Cleve and Maude McMillan Gambill and her siblings were Arthur, Dale, Tam, Marye (Lineback), and Robert, all now deceased except Robert. The 250-acre Gambill farm was isolated on the Virginia side of the now-famous National Wild and Scenic New River that ran through the farm. Because the river isolated the farm on the Virginia side of the river and there was no bridge, a small "Gambill School" was established on the north side for elementary children. After finishing elementary school, older children had to walk two miles and pole a flat-bottom boat across the river each way to catch a school bus to attend Piney Creek High School. The New River has since been bridged adjacent to the family farm allowing road access directly to the county seat of Sparta.

After her siblings graduated from high school, Dorothy no longer had anyone to help her cross the river. She was persuaded, however, to ride her horse by herself daily more than two miles north into Virginia to attend high school in Independence, VA. Her father had her horse saddled each morning before daylight with a bag of feed attached to the saddle. As she rode north into Virginia, she crossed several fields and farms to take a short-cut to save a mile or so. She had to have the horse jump a pasture fence to arrive at a barn near the school bus stop. A neighbor at the bus stop sheltered and fed her horse in his barn, awaiting her return in the afternoon. She rode through storms of wind, rain, snow, and subfreezing temperatures to graduate near the top of her class in Independence. Dorothy was embarrassed to tell her classmates that she had ridden her horse to catch the school bus and only years later told the story to her Baltimore friends. However, Dorothy's nieces and nephews considered her extraordinary ride a marvelous example of the fortitude and determination of the mountain people of Alleghany County, NC.

Only Dorothy and her brother Dale were able to attend college. Dorothy first attended Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, NC, then transferred to Radford College. Upon graduation in 1947, she married Clarence Roten and they moved to Baltimore where she began her teaching career. Eighteen years later they divorced. Later she married Tommy Hoppers, who was killed in a construction accident that same year.

Dorothy met Dr. Arthur Lepley, the "love of her life," on a Caribbean cruise. He was a chemistry professor at Marshall University. Six months later in 1985 they married at Goucher College Chapel in Towson. Dorothy, always a ballroom dancer, convinced Art to learn to dance and they became an exhibition ballroom dancing duo with a dance performance group, continuing performances into their 80's. Their world travels became a highlight of their lives, to Alaska (five times), Australia, widely in Europe, Casablanca, Egypt, Kenya, Russia, and widely in South America. They were in China when 911 occurred in New York City.

Dorothy had a 30-year teaching career in three different high schools in Baltimore. During her tenure, she was one of two teachers selected to be Senior Class Advisors of the entire 350 or so graduating seniors. The two of them were also responsible for the school's Senior yearbook, the Senior play and all of the final graduation exercises. She retired as a Department Head after her last five years in Home Economics in the Baltimore area.

She reveled in her years-long contacts with her many students. She often spoke eloquently about some of her "stars," both women and men, particularly including Al Kaline, who had a 12-year professional career with the Detroit Tigers. Dorothy taught his wife, Louise, Home Economics and was even invited to their wedding. Dorothy took particular pride in the fact that she never had a discipline problem in her classrooms.

Dorothy took a real estate course during her last year of her 30-year teaching career and decided she was ready for a new career. She really didn't think she "...even could sell a vacuum cleaner," but during her 25 years in real estate sales in Maryland and Pennsylvania, she was selected to be one of three real estate agents on the Board of the Million Dollar Agents for Maryland.

In their latter years, Dorothy and Art decided that Edenwald would be a perfect choice for a new home for their retirement years. They moved into an 8th floor apartment overlooking an expansive yard frequented by deer. The Tower of Goucher College where they were married is clearly visible in the distance. This period was a wonderful time in both of their lives.

Dorothy loved her family. Although she never had children, she loved her brothers and sister and particularly her surviving brother Robert, as well as her many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and even great-great-nieces and nephews. She also was a loving stepmother to husband Art's four children, Jo, Margaret, Jenny, and Richard, who live in different parts of the country.

Dorothy will be fondly remembered by her family and friends, who saw her as an exciting and determined woman who overcame tremendous odds of leaving an isolated country home in the Appalachians to become a successful teacher and a "Million Dollar" real estate salesperson in Baltimore.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:30 am on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at Olde Beau Resort & Golf Club, Roaring Gap, NC followed by an inurnment at Elk Creek Cemetery Sparta, NC.

Memorials may be made to the following:

Appalachian State University Foundation, Inc.
Capt. Martin Gambill Endowed Scholarship fund
Advancement Services
ASU Box 32014
Watson Brumit Hall
Boone, NC 28608

Elk Creek Cemetery
c/o Joel Souther
189 Farmers Fish Camp Rd
Sparta, NC 28675

Thomas Family Funeral Service is honored to be serving the Lepley Family. If you wish, online tributes may be extended to the family at www.thomasfamilyfs.com.

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