Emma Dorothea Baird, 91, Vero Beach
Emma Dorothea (Jennings) Baird, widow of Duke B. Baird, M.D., formerly of Miami, Fla., died June 27, 2018, at the VNA Hospice House in Vero Beach.
Dottie, as she was best known, was born in Clermont, Fla., on May 4, 1927, to Leonard P. and Emma Hilliard Booth. She attended school in Clermont and graduated from Chicora High School, Charleston, S.C.
Following her graduation, she entered nursing school at Roper Hospital, a part of the Medical College of South Carolina.
She married Robert J. Jennings, Jr., a student at The Citadel. They later moved to Spartanburg, S.C.
In Spartanburg, she began working as a nurse in a doctor’s office. She later became the doctor’s office manager. She chose this as her career and when Dottie moved to Miami she was employed in the same position for a doctor who was to be her future husband. She also helped establish other orthopedic offices in the area as well as a Workman’s Compensation Clinic in Hialeah, Fla.
Dottie and Dr. Baird were married in Vero Beach in 1986.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Vero Beach, serving as Deacon, Elder, Trustee and on many other committees.
Dottie loved her church, family, home and friends. Dottie was a member of Allamanda Garden Club Circle where she held many positions. She was the Enabler-Coordinator of District 8 of Central Florida Presbytery for Presbyterian Women for many years. She served as a Trustee on the Buggy Bunch. Her greatest pleasures were her sons and later her four grandchildren. She enjoyed doing things for others, working with her orchids, her flower garden, fishing and her many travel experiences with friends.
Survivors include her two sons, Robert Jones Jennings, III (Karen) of Osprey, Fla., and David Barron Jennings, Sr. (Cindy) of Spartanburg, S.C.; one sister, Betty B. Merchant, of Milton, Fla.; four grandchildren, Rebecca Jennings, of Sarasota, Fla., Rob IV, of Philadelphia, Pa., and Stephanie Jennings and David Jr. (Bridget) of Spartanburg, S.C.; three nieces and one nephew; two great nieces and one great nephew; and her three step-children, Nini Baird, John Henry Baird and Duke Baird, III.
A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at The First Presbyterian Church beginning at 10 a.m., Friday, July 6, with The Rev. Dr. G. Timothy Womack officiating. A reception will follow at the church.
Burial will be later that afternoon at the Greenwood Memorial Gardens, Groveland, Fla., in the Booth family plot.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Scholarship Fund for the Youth of the First Presbyterian Church, 520 Royal Palm Boulevard, Vero Beach, FL 32960 or the Buggy Bunch of Vero Beach, 1450 21st Street, Vero Beach, FL 32960.
