Dorothy 'Dot' Pack Fielder

April 22, 1942 - March 23, 2021

Dorothy (Dot) Pack Fielder On March 23, 2021, Dot Fielder, retired United Methodist pastor, counselor, dog lover, talented cross-stitcher, avid reader, dear friend to many, and beloved mom, grandmom, and mother-in-law, passed away in the arms of her daughter at Summit Hospital in Hermitage, TN. Her death was the end of a year-long decline in physical, mental, and emotional health due to isolation during the Covid pandemic, a victim of coronavirus in spite of never contracting the disease. Born in Cleveland, TN, on April 22, 1942, Dot spent her school years in Oak Ridge and remained a proud Oak Ridger at heart throughout her 79 years. She was the only child of Marcus Pack, an electrical substation operator at the Oak Ridge K-25 uranium plant of the Manhattan Project, and Elizabeth Armstrong Pack, a gifted piano performer and teacher. Dot graduated Oak Ridge High School and attended Emory and Henry College before marrying Nick Fielder in 1963 and moving to the Pacific Northwest, the first of her 22 moves throughout her life. On Vashon Island off the Seattle mainland in the late 60s, she discovered her true calling as a Jeep-driving hippie earth mother, baking bread, weaving beautiful fabrics, and blissfully raising daughter Karin and Alaskan Malamute Shami. Over the next decade of working as administrative assistant by day and dissertation typist by night, Dot supported Nick during his archaeology studies in Knoxville and Moscow, Idaho, and she was always at her happiest hanging out with the archeology community everywhere they lived. She went on to earn her bachelors degree in American Studies from UT Knoxville and then worked as executive assistant to senior partners at Touche Ross, the precursor to public accounting giant Deloitte. At age 50, Dot changed careers from the corporate sector to ministry for the United Methodist Church, graduating with her Masters of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1994 and interning at West End UMC. She pastored at several churches in the Tennessee Conference, including Crossville First UMC, Cookeville First UMC, and Tulip Street UMC in East Nashville, before retiring in 2004 after a bout with breast cancer. Her favorite ministry was with small groups, and at each church, she established groups for Stephen Ministry, Emmaus Walks, grief support, divorce recovery, and other programs to support parishioners. Her final church home was Grace UMC in Mt. Juliet. After retirement, she spent her days producing intricate cross-stitching pieces as a member of the Embroiders Guild of America, spending time with the two canine loves of her life, Toby and Ellie, writing, keeping up with Facebook friends, posting liberal memes, affirming diversity and LGBTQ rights, challenging stereotypes, advocating for reconciling congregations in the UMC, volunteering, and celebrating her family including grandchildren Kathryn Nicole Weaver (Chris Denmark) and Xan Weaver (Lydia Henrichs), daughter Karin Fielder Weaver and daughter-in-law Brandy Weaver, and her forever family/ex-husband/best friends/co-grandparents Nick Fielder and Betty Bunch, as well as a host of cousins and friends across the country. She will be deeply missed as an empathetic, compassionate, creative, humble, encouraging, funny, intelligent woman who was much loved by all who knew her. A family graveside memorial service will be held in Madisonville, TN, on Easter Sunday 4/4, followed by a informal Nashville memorial around her birthday on 4/22. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to; Hands On Nashville, https://www.hon.org/donate Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, www.ofsds.org or FiftyForward, https://fiftyforward.org/donate/