On 21 January 2010, after 87 years, Dorothy Jeanette Bradley-Cavendish passed away, leaving behind two sons, James B. Cavendish and his wife, Tanya, of Austin, Texas and Robert J. Cavendish and his wife, Nancy, of Buda, Texas.
Dorothy belonged to what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation,” those who endured the Great Depression and the Second World War. While attending college in Monroe, Louisiana, she met and married Lt. R. J. Cavendish, Sr., an Army Air Corps navigation student at Selman Field in Monroe. At the conclusion of World War II, following his return from a prisoner of war camp in Germany, she and her husband traveled across the United States to his duty assignments with the U.S. Air Force.

Dorothy returned to college in 1959, a single mom with two sons to raise. By 1962, she completed her degree from Northeast Louisiana State College and entered the medical records profession, becoming a Certified Medical Records Librarian at Glenwood Hospital in West Monroe, Louisiana. Dorothy was one of Hospital Corporation of America’s first women executives and enjoyed wide esteem throughout HCA for her professional ability and accomplishments. Her career success led to several promotions and job assignments from Macon, Georgia to London, England. She retired from HCA in 1991, moving to Austin, Texas to be closer to her immediate family, especially her beloved five grandsons [Brandon, Collin, John, Andrew and William].

In addition to her sons and their families, Dorothy is survived by her brother, James B. Bradley, Jr., of West Monroe, Louisiana. Before her most recent illness, she was a member of Hyde Park Baptist Church. Burial will be a private graveside service commemorating the life of a mother and pioneer woman executive.