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She was known for caring, service

By NOVA BEALL
Published January 23, 2007

BELLEAIR - Philanthropist Dorothy Dimmitt Baxter died Sunday (Jan. 21, 2007) at Morton Plant Rehabilitation Center in Clearwater. She was 94.

Mrs. Baxter co-founded the Community Pride Foundation and was one of five women who organized the Clearwater Junior Service League, now known as the Junior League of Clearwater/Dunedin.

"Mother was very active and did so much for the community," her son, Mike Sanders of Clearwater, said Monday. "She had a deep caring for people and always looked for the opportunity to help out where she could."

Mrs. Baxter was born in 1912 in the Florida panhandle town of Port St. Joe, where her father, Lawrence H. Dimmitt Sr., was president of a railway and land development company.

In 1924, Dorothy, nicknamed "Dimmie," moved with her family to Clearwater during Florida's land boom. The devastating hurricane of 1921 was still fresh in the mind of her father, who chose Clearwater for the family's home partly because of its elevation.

Dimmitt Sr. went into the automobile business and founded a local Chevrolet and Cadillac dealership, today operated by Mrs. Baxter's nephews.

As a girl growing up in Clearwater, Mrs. Baxter attended the English Classical School, a private school behind Morton Plant Hospital. Later, she attended Smith College for a year and graduated from Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University.

She married George W. Sanders of Montclair, N.J., in 1937 at Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church in Clearwater, where she was a lifetime member and Sunday school teacher.

In her 20s, she played leading roles at the Francis Wilson Playhouse, where Francis Wilson himself, one of Broadway's leading song-and-dance men in the early 20th century and one of the founders of Actors Equity, reviewed her plays favorably. She served on the board of the Gulf Coast Art Center in Belleair and later became an art student there.

Mrs. Baxter also was a charter member of the Junior Committee of the YWCA and later served on the Senior YWCA Board. She was a member of the Clearwater Historical Society and served on the board of the Osceola Inn Retirement Home, operated by Peace Memorial Church.

In 1992, Dorothy married John B. Baxter of Garden City, N.Y., and Belleair. Mr. Baxter died in 2004.

Mrs. Baxter is survived by a son, Michael L. Sanders of Clearwater; a daughter, Hebe S. Dowling of New York City and Boca Grande; a brother, Larry H. Dimmitt of Clearwater; a niece, Eileen Dimmitt Magidson of Clearwater; three nephews, Lawrence H. Dimmitt III, and Richard R. Dimmitt, both of Clearwater, and Benjamin I. Dimmitt of New York City; five grandchildren, Meaghan D. Chorske, Michael W. Chorske, John W. Dowling, Rebecca B. Dowling and Peter S. Dowling, all of New York City; two great-grandchildren, John S. Chorske and Hebe C. Chorske; 10 grandnieces and grandnephews.

A memorial service will take place at 3 p.m. Monday at Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church, 110 S Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church or Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.

[Last modified January 22, 2007, 20:38:14]