Beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Dorothy Banks Thompson Montgomery died on December 26, 2021 in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Services will be at 11:00 AM on Friday, December 31st at Crestview Memorial Park Cemetery Mausoleum with Dr. Mark Bender officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Lunn's Colonial Funeral Home.

Dorothy, called "Dot" by those who knew and loved her well, was born on March 29, 1927, in Dallas, Texas, to Banks and Will C. Thompson. She graduated from The Hockaday School in Dallas in 1944 and the University of Texas in 1947, with a number of honors, including being a member of Pi Beta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa.

She married James Irl Montgomery, a Wichita Falls native, on September 5, 1947. The couple were married 71 wonderful years and were active members of First Christian Church, involved in numerous community activities, and became avid travelers, adventuring to places as near as the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO, and as far as Australia, Cape Horn, and the Holy Land. Their love of traveling included taking their entire family to the Caribbean to celebrate their 50 ^th Wedding Anniversary and to Hawaii for their 60 ^th , complete with a luau on Christmas Day. No matter where she went, Dorothy always made sure her lipstick matched her clothes and she had her purse in hand.

Dorothy was an educator and a church and community leader. In 1964 she became a pioneer in the new educational field of dyslexia and learning disabilities, which became her passion for the rest of her life. She wrote and published Angling for Words , a series of instruction manuals for those with dyslexia that has been used to teach a countless number of children to read. She also taught the first classes in remedial reading and English at Rider High School in 1969 before moving fulltime into special education. Though she retired in 1979, she continued to provide private teaching services to those with learning differences for a number of years. She won a variety of awards for her teaching services and served on many boards and clubs including Children's Aid Society, Interfaith Ministries, WFISD Partners in Education, and Christian Women's Job Corps. In addition, she helped form the Wichita Adult Literacy Council. She also served as a deaconess and elder at First Christian Church and was elected an Elder Emeritus in 2003.

Besides education and traveling, Dorothy had a deep love for God and for her family. Her favorite pastime was bragging about her grandchildren to anyone she met.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her two sisters, and her beloved husband, James Irl. She is survived by her family, daughters Diane Spiller and husband Dr. Michael Spiller Jr. and Linda Gipson and husband Nick, all of Wichita Falls, and her cherished grandchildren Elizabeth Henry and husband Clayton of Wichita Falls, Emily Gipson of Austin, Trey Spiller and wife Sally of Denton, and James Spiller and wife Rachel of Des Moines, Iowa. She was also the proud great-grandmother of Neely and Ann Henry, Judd and Remi Spiller, and Reed Wolfgang Spiller.

The family extends their appreciation to the nurses and staff at Perkins-Prothro Health Care Center at Presbyterian Manor and to Hospice of Wichita Falls for their loving care.

It was Dorothy's wish that memorials be made to First Christian Church, Hospice of Wichita Falls, or Presbyterian Manor's Good Samaritan Fund.