Dorothy Jean (Smith) Dresser, 95, of Austin, Texas died peacefully, surrounded by her family, on Monday, August 31, in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Born in Melrose, Massachusetts in 1931, she was the daughter of Rev. Dr. Burton Boutwell Smith and Dorothy Quimby Smith. She attended MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois and graduated from from American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. She married Emerson Saben Dresser in 1953, and lived in Wilbraham, Massachusetts from 1962 to 2010.

Dorothy taught elementary school in Massachusetts, in the Southboro, Winchendon and Westfield Public Schools, and was a teacher’s aide at East Street School in Ludlow before retiring in 1995. She always said third grade was her favorite. She and her husband operated Lena’s Submarine Shops in Salisbury Beach and Springfield in the ‘60s.

Beginning in 1934, Dorothy spent her summers on Lake Wentworth in Wolfeboro, NH. She enjoyed playing word games, doing crossword puzzles, birdwatching, knitting, playing Canasta and Scrabble, reading, watching game shows and using her iPad. She was an avid Red Sox fan.

Dorothy leaves her daughter Martha Jean Harris and her husband Whitney of Austin, Texas, her grandson Andrew and his wife Monique, of Lexington, Massachusetts, her granddaughter Alicia and her husband Chris, of Dripping Springs, Texas, her great grandchildren Greyson, Anika and Lorelei and three nieces. She is predeceased by her husband Emerson, her sisters Elizabeth and Joyce and her brother Charles.

A gathering to celebrate her life will be held in Wolfeboro at a later date. Private burial will be at Hillcrest Park Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts. Memorial donations can be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.