Dorothy 'Dottie' Jones Blair, nurse and founder

[RandyW]

Dorothy 'Dottie' Jones Blair, nurse and founder of Holmes Street in Dallas, dies

12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, January 27, 2010

By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News

jsimnacher@dallasnews.com

Dorothy "Dottie" Jones Blair had no limits in her desire to help people.

She worked as a registered nurse with a certificate in anesthesiology. As a mother of two, she was known to include neighborhood children in her brood's activities.

As she approached retirement, she expanded her community service by founding Holmes Street Inc., a South Dallas alcohol and drug treatment center for teenage boys.

Mrs. Blair, 74, died Jan. 19 of lung cancer at her Dallas home.

A wake will begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Concord Baptist Church, where she was a charter member. Services will be at noon Saturday at the church. She will be buried in Laurel Land Memorial Park.

Mrs. Blair's family got a more complete image of her as friends recalled her dedication, said her daughter, Alberta Blair of Dallas.

"She was a lady of many, many, many hats," Ms. Blair said. "She did it with full energy. My mother was always smiling, always having a good time."

Mrs. Blair was the eighth of nine children born to her family in Longview, Texas, where she graduated from high school in 1951.

She was a graduate of what is now Prairie View A&M University, where she received certification as a registered nurse. She became certified as a nurse anesthetist in New Orleans before beginning her career in Houston.

In 1960, Mrs. Blair moved to Dallas and met Donald Blair, the proprietor of a real estate business, who helped her find a place to live. The couple married that August.

Mrs. Blair worked at clinics and hospitals across Dallas, including Presbyterian Hospital, her daughter said.

When her children graduated from college and she approached the end of her nursing career, Mrs. Blair looked to increase her volunteer efforts, her daughter said.

As a volunteer at a facility working with juveniles, Mrs. Blair saw the need for a chemical dependency rehabilitation program in South Dallas.

In 1990, she founded Holmes Street Inc., a nonprofit residential and outpatient treatment center. She and her husband built the center, supporting it as philanthropists and volunteers.

Mrs. Blair retired from nursing in 1997.

In 2005, when she learned she had lung cancer, she still helped others despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. "Even up to the last breath," her daughter said.

Mrs. Blair was a member of the South Dallas Negro Business and Professional Women's Club and a lifetime member of the Minnie H. Goodlow Page Chapter of the National Council of Negro Women Inc. That group honored her with its Mary McLeod Bethune Award for outstanding service in 2007.

In addition to her daughter and husband, Mrs. Blair is survived by a son, Dr. Donald Blair II of Dallas; two brothers, Harvey D. Jones of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Walter C. Jones of Los Angeles; two sisters, Annie Bea Hiner of Pittsburg, Texas, and Lizzie Willis of Longview, Texas; and four grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to Holmes Stre