Obituary of Dorothy Elizabeth Pattee

Chattanooga, Tenn Dorothy Elizabeth “Presh” Evans Pattee died peacefully at home on March 31, 2021, at the age of 101. Presh was a true daughter of Chattanooga, the beloved wife of William Burleigh Pattee(1911 - 1975), the loving and beloved mother of her children, Anne Lupton Pattee and Gordon Burleigh Pattee, the wonderful grandmother to Mary Dailey Desmarais, Ashleigh Lupton Shaheen, and Paxton Pattee, and the over joyed great grandmother to Paul, Henry, Alix, Arthur, Sara, and Charles. Dorothy Elizabeth Evans was born in Chattanooga on October 15th, 1919 to Jesse Ellsworth Evans and Anne Lupton Evans. Dorothy became “Presh” when her father saw his first child and pronounced her “a very precious baby!” Mr. Evans died when Mrs. Pattee was a child. Her mother subsequently married J. Frank Harrison, and when she was again widowed, she married another of Chattanooga’s civic leaders, Paul B. Carter. Mrs. Pattee was the sister to the late Thomas Carter Evans of Houston, Texas, to Jesse Evans Millis of High Point, North Carolina, and to J. Frank Harrison, Jr. of Chattanooga. Presh grew up in Riverview and attended The Bright School, Girl’s Preparatory School, and Randolph-Macon College. After World War II broke out, she went to Hawaii and joined the Women’s Air Raid Defense(WARD). It was in Honolulu that she met her first and only love, Lieutenant Commander William Burleigh Pattee. After an A+ report from the Pinkerton Guards, commissioned by her mother to vet the unknown Commander who planned to whisk her daughter off to “foreign” California, Presh and Burleigh were married in Riverview in 1945 and soon moved to Hillsborough, California. There, Presh was an active member of both the Hillsborough and San Francisco communities. Much of her philanthropic endeavors focused on Hillsborough Garden Club and the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew. After Burleigh’s death in 1975, Presh moved back to Lookout Mountain, and became an active supporter of the Creative Discovery Museum, the Siskin Children’s Institute, and the Church of the Good Shepherd. Anne and Gordon are so grateful to the friends and family who folded Presh back into their lives so graciously, and to the deeply valued friends and family who have provided each of them so many happy memories. Anne and Gordon offer their profound thanks to Gail Williams, Micah Kerby, to the complete team of their loyal caregivers, and to the Hospice of Chattanooga. No one has ever received more tender and meticulous care than Presh Pattee. She will be taken to Riverside, California to be buried next to Burleigh in the Pattee Family plot at the Olivewood Memorial Park. Memorials may be directed to the Creative Discovery Museum, 321 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Arrangements by Wann Funeral and Cremation Center. To share memories, photos or condolences please visit www.wannfuneralhome.com.