William "Bill" Aaron Dotson

William Aaron Dotson (Bill) started life on a farm in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, on Feb 15, 1932. He was the only son of William Ernest and Grace Shepherd Dotson both of whom predeceased him. The head of the family and an inspiration to Bill, was his grandfather who was an itinerant country doctor.

The family moved up to central Indiana when Bill was about 10 years old. He graduated from Sidney High School at 16 going directly to Manchester College where he majored in French and Spanish.. Upon graduation in 1952 he joined he army where he was assigned to language school and studied Romanian for a year and a half. The Korean War was going strong at this time but Bill spent the next few years in Germany and was discharged in 1957. He returned home to Indiana where he taught elementary school. After a year, Bill’s desire to see more of the world led him to join the Foreign Service in 1959. He served proudly as a Diplomatic Courier until his retirement in 1986 and worked many years afterwards for the couriers in their Washington office.

Bill made Springfield, Virginia his home in 1976 where he spent the last eight years before his death with his longtime friend and companion Liz Montagne. They traveled widely around the world often with his sister Pat Stephens. Bill went to the gym regularly and enjoyed eating out particularly at his favorite Thai restaurants. Another favorite activity for Bill was making the trek yearly to Lancaster county to enjoy all things in ‘Dutch country’.

Bill was a loving uncle to his nieces in Richmond, Va, Mona (Lee), Laurie and Lisa (Charlie) and many grand nieces and nephews. He will be missed by so many friends and family.