Mary Dorothy Hawley was born in Aetna Mills, California on April 10, 1918, daughter of Portia Berry Lemon and (Clarence) Ray Hawley. She spent most of her childhood in Berkeley California across the Bay from San Francisco. She was a member of the pioneer Lemon family that settled in California prior to Statehood.

        Who were the Lemons? A short history of the Lemon Family gleaned from "A History of the Lemon Family" written by Marguerite Lemon Novak in 1990 says to the best of her research, based in part by recollections of "Aunt Josie" who was born in 1856 the first Lemon to come to America was a John Lemon, born in Antrim, Ireland who arrived with a wife and 10 or 11 children, from England and settled in Virginia as an indentured servant in the late 1700's. All the Lemon sons were involved in the Revolutionary War. John Lemon Jr. was born in 1761 and was just a boy when he fought in the War. His son, John McClenighan Lemon was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and served in the French and Indian War of 1812. He retired in 1824 with a rank of Major and for his service as a legal aide to General Andrew Jackson, was awarded land in LaPorte, Indiana. His son, James McConnell Lemon, born in 1831 made several overland trips to California from Pennsylvania during his lifetime. The first was with his older brother, John Bonaparte Lemon, to try their hand in the Gold Rush in 1849 and the second and third (in 1854) with his wife and first baby. The Lemons had settled in the Green Valley/Suisun area and had several business ventures including merchandising and cattle ranching and (as a result of raiders) began a Detective Society in the area. The Lemons were also active in local politics holding offices such as County Treasurer, Postmaster of Suisun, Justice of the Peace for Green Valley, California State Delegate and Assemblyman. James McConnell Lemon also tried his hand at helping build California's infrastructure and had the successful bid to build a railroad from Woodland, near Sacramento, to Vallejo. General Vallejo named Lemon street in Vallejo, in his honor. The Lemon family ranch was located near the present Napa Valley Rd. exit and Highway 80. Highway 12 now cuts through it.

        James McConnell Lemon married Chloe Clement Cooper and had 8 children, among which were Charles William Lemon born in 1855 and Josephine (known forever after as aunt Josie), born in 1856. Aunt Josie taught school in Oakland for years and years. She became her family breadwinner in bad economic times and was the one everyone in the family looked up to for advice and assistance. She never married. Her brother, Charles William Lemon married Alice Foreman and they had 7 children, the youngest was Portia Berry Lemon, born in 1894. The family had moved to Arizona for health reasons and that is where Portia met and married Ray Hawley. They had 4 daughters, Elinor, Mary Dorothy (always referred to as Dorothy), Peggy (later known as Kasandra) and Portia Jr.

        Dorothy's early life was difficult. Her father disciplined her severely. Her mother, Portia Sr., apparently found domestic life was not foher. Evenr tually she married six times. College educated, it seems she found it difficult to raise 4 daughters and must have felt trapped in an unhappy marriage. Dorothy and her older sister Elinor were given most of the household responsibilities at an early age. They cooked and cleaned house while their mother pursued her hobby of creating entertainments based on stories written by her that featured handmade puppets of her design. When Dorothy was 16 her mother scandalized the family by leaving her husband and children to embark on an adventure to Tahiti with another man. As a result, the family was separated. Several Lemon relatives such as her great aunt Josie Lemon, the "rock" of the Lemon family helped take care of the girls (the youngest was 9) until they could care for themselves. Dorothy had few fond memories of her childhood.

        After her mother left, Dorothy spent some time with relatives in Southern California as in-home help to pay for her room and board and when old enough, roomed with her sister Elinor, (Nell), and worked her way through San Jose State College by working in the school cafeteria (where the meals were made from scratch daily including home-made pies). One day she met a dashing fellow who was taking a photography class with her sister. His name was Harry Vaughn Hubbard, he had a car and a motorcycle and had a passion for flying airplanes (he helped start the flying club at San Jose State). He also had a good friend, Roswell Rhodes, who was an aspiring opera singer. The four of them began spending time together and later became married couples.

        World War II was coming by then and Harry went to train as a pilot for the Army Air Corps marrying Dorothy upon graduation from flying school. Dorothy then spent the next 8 years as an officer's wife in various locations around the US in Washington State, Texas and Washington D.C. During that time she gave birth to 3 children and began her career as a mother.
        As the War ended, her husband with his two surviving brothers launched a mining venture in Mexico. Dorothy kept the home fires burning in Douglas Arizona and when the Mexico ventures failed, helped relocate the family to Southern California. They spent the next couple of years living in more than one location while Harry worked at various aviation-related jobs he found through contacts he'd developed during the War.

        A few years later the lure of the Bay Area and partnering with Dorothy's father in a steel street light pole fabricating business brought them back where they settled first in San Carlos and later built a house in Redwood City on Massachusetts avenue. They lived there for several years. During those years Dorothy began taking painting lessons from Dick Bowman, a well-known Chicago Art Institute-trained Bay Area painter. She and Harry developed a long-standing friendship with Dick and his poet-wife Peg.

        Dorothy maintained an active role in her children's upbringing becoming the family chauffeur ferrying them to their art, dance and music lessons, (and Boy Scouts) and insisting that they practice their instruments every day (whether they wanted to or not). She also tended to them when they were ill or had accidents such as when Ann had a bad fall from her bicycle (suffering a concussion) when she was a pre-teen or when Linda had a ruptured appendix (at 8 years old). When overly inquisitive, teen-aged Robert and a friend tried to make a backyard rocket using black powder as fuel. It exploded from a spark and blew his left hand apart (his eyesight was thankfully protected by his glasses). Dorothy was brave and stubborn at the hospital, she insisted on having his hand examined by a specialist when confronted by emergency staff wanting to amputate his left thumb and who wouldn't give him any pain medicine until she signed the approval. She held out for the specialist and his thumb was saved and, after performing months of grueling and painful daily physical therapy on his hand, Robert grew up to play the oboe professionally.

        Dorothy was Harry's "right arm" assisting him with his many projects around the house and garden. She and the kids helped on wood-gathering forays (Harry cut the wood with a chain saw while they held the logs steady). They always had nightly fires blazing away every night during wintertime.

        Dorothy had a flair for drama. She and Harry would often attend costume parties at the Officer's Club at San Francisco's Presidio dressing up as Goucho's at one and Roaring 20's Flappers at another. She put the costumes together. One year they enter the New Year's Eve Best Costume contest and she designed and made a dragon costume that Bob and Harry rigged up to breathe smoke and have glowing eyes. They enlisted the help of another couple (one of whom smoked) and won the contest.

        In the late 1950's the partnership with Dorothy's father soured. He had sold the business and did not treat the partnership fairly. Dorothy never saw or spoke to him again. In 1959, as a result of Harry getting a new job as a mechanical engineer at Lockheed Missiles and Space in Sunnyvale, they decided to relocate to the South Bay. They moved to a newly-built house in Los Altos near the present junction of Hwy 280, Homestead Rd. and Foothill Expressway. It was high on a hill overlooking the fruit tree orchards on what is now Silicone Valley. Everyone had their own room, Dorothy got a dedicated painting studio and the 1950 Olds got its own carport.

        Dorothy came "into her own" in Los Altos. She painted up a storm, cooked and entertained like mad and kept everyone busy with their music. She made berry pies and jam. She made dresses for the girls and ties for Harry. She made sure that there were regular visits to San Francisco museums as well as serving up full meals (with homemade pie) while on camping trips to Lake Tahoe. She and Harry listened to Jazz with Dick and Peg Bowman (part of the original San Francisco "Beat Generation") and entertained frequently. As Harry developed his skill at sound recording, she spent thousands of hours helping haul, set-up and tear down his equipment at the many musical performances their children were involved with. They recorded hundreds of performances of the Peninsula Symphony, California Youth Symphony and (later) the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra (which they helped found in the early '70's), chamber groups and other musical groups. Dorothy was always there doing whatever needed to be done.

        The Los Altos house saw many, many parties and Dorothy was the organizer and made it all happen. There many musical evenings filled with Bach Cantatas played on recorders with Phil and Rose Hand and chamber music galore played by her children and their musical friends. Artists Carl and Roma Bauer, Dick and Peg Bowman and Jacqueline White and Kenneth Washburn were frequent guests. Dorothy became a master at entertaining. Other gatherings often included the Zuckermans, the Arnold Isfords, the Ken Rays, Bob Aulger, Al Cote, Bill Armstrong, the Herbert Bells, the Soloways and Fran and Keith Bickford. She entertained and cooked for all.

        She was always good-natured about Harry's habit of calling (frequently) in the afternoon saying he'd be bringing one or more of his co-workers home for dinner. She'd be ready with another outstanding meal such as BBQ'd Tri-tip, quarter chickens, artichokes, enormous baked potatoes, avocado salad and her trademark berry and apple pies (often both).
        She was a tireless cook making everything from scratch: Pies, cakes and tender gingerbread. Her "Egyptian Casserole" was legendary. She made pancakes and biscuits, hot cornbread loaded with homemade blackberry and apricot jam. School lunches were often made on homemade bread (oh, those turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving)…Big turkeys and rare roast beef. She always made sure her family ate nutritious and tasty meals. This even extended to lunch. She frequently would make a delicious lunch, pick up Harry and they would picnic together in the area (often watching the planes at Moffett Field in Mountain View).

        It is no wonder that her high standards that drove her superior cooking should demand quality elsewhere in her life. When she was dissatisfied with the puny and unexciting candles she found available she decided to make her own. The result was Harry designing a rotating, circular wheel that was suspended from the ceiling of her studio that allowed her to raise and lower long, hanging wicks into a large vat of molten wax. This contraption enabled her to make 2 dozen 22" candles at a time, dipping them over and over until the wicks were coated to a diameter of about an inch at the bottom and tapering beautifully at the top. They were then hand "painted" with colored wax she mixed herself. They have illuminated her dining tables for these many years.

        Dorothy's years and years of daily, stern reminders to "practice, practice, practice" saw results when her children all attended music schools, Bob to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ann to The Juilliard School of Music in New York, Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Linda was allowed to travel (alone at 16 years old) to Paris to compete for a flute scholarship at the Paris Conservatory of Music in the early '60's. Bob and Ann went on to play music professionally and Linda gravitated to Art upon returning to the US where she attained a degree in Art from San Jose State University.

        When her youngest child graduated from college, Dorothy and Harry moved to an old "Farm house" in Los Altos where they had more time to enjoy weekend trips down the coast or to visit friends and relatives in Southern California. Many of Dorothy's seascapes are a result of these mini-vacations.

        Bob and Ann married and started families and Dorothy devoted much of her time over the next years as a "doting grandmother" to Deven (from Bob's first marriage) and Brian his son with his second wife Christy. She also doted on Deirdre, Ann's daughter. Dorothy was a gentle and forgiving person, and was always generous with her time, money and love. For many years, she made room for her mom, Portia Sr to come down from her Gold Country home to spend the cold winter months with her family.

        Dorothy and Harry moved to Benicia in 1979 finding a house with a panoramic view of the Carquinez Straits. Dorothy eventually had a studio added to the house and continued taking painting classes from Dick Bowman across the Bay and kept in touch with several members such as Helen Blouin and Linda Caprini. These years became her most prolific artistic period.

        Over the years Dorothy kept a busy schedule that included friends such as Tony and Mary Pileri, well-known ceramicist, Waltraud Webber and her husband Rolf and special friends Jackie and Jerry Reimann. She stayed in touch and visited with her sisters who have all passed away before her. She enjoyed time with Kasandra's son David and his family and loved the visits Elinor's son Norm and his wife Willie made to Baker Ct. She saw Portia Jr's grown son David and daughter Susan a few times and was sorry they lived so far away. In the '80's she rekindled a relationship with her half-brother and sister, Charles Hawley and Pam Nelson, children of her father's second family and rediscovered several Lemon relatives such as Dorilee and Eliot Castello and Margaret Novak and her family and Bob and Evie Lemon. They frequently had Sunday Brunch together at El Torito's in Walnut Creek. She treasured these "new" relatives and loved seeing them. In the '90's she went on gambling trips and on cruises with Portia Jr. and Margaret Novak. She and Harry traveled to Alaska multiple times, Europe several times and nurtured a strong bond with Jacques and Jacqueline Thiry and the Village of Stave in Belgium, the site of a memorial to Harry's brother Lloyd who's plane was shot down over their village.

        Dorothy spent her last 35 years supporting her children's activities, painting and entertaining friends and family with lavish dinners and being the rock that held them steady and the glue that held them all together.

        After Harry's passing in 2011 at age 99, Dorothy slowed down and found reading to be her favorite pastime. Her stroke in June, 2013 was not unexpected for someone who had reached the ripe old age of 95 but she impressed everyone at the convalescent home with her steady recovery, going home after only 3 months. Unfortunately, despite her continued recovery, she had a sudden downturn early in October and stopped eating and drinking. She passed away quietly and painlessly at 2:30 am Saturday, October 12, 2013.

        Dorothy was a loving person who gave of herself throughout her life. She will be remembered for her selfless, warm, supportive nature and creative spirit. Her artwork will be a lasting reminder of her view of the world which she portrayed as light-filled and colorful landscapes and seascapes that celebrated the glory of Nature.

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