Dovie Teal

Dovie Teal, 95, formerly of Dallas, passed away on Saturday, October 20, 2018 at Covenant Place in Abilene, TX. Visitation will be Monday, October 22nd from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Tuesday, October 23rd at The Hamil Family Funeral Home. Burial will follow at the Elmwood Memorial Park Cemetery with Jeff Reid of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, officiating. Services are under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Dovie was born in Abilene, Texas to E T and Bessie Teal on February 2, 1923. Dovie attended Central School and AHS, which is now the Lincoln building. While a student at Central, she wrote a paper for an Arbor Day Contest and won. A granite plaque was placed by a tree to honor her. It was donated to Abilene ISD by the family and is at One AISD. She graduated from Abilene High School in 1930 and attended ACC and Texas State Women's College in Denton. She taught 5th grade in Winters, TX for one year. She lived in Memphis, TN with her "sistah", Connie for a few years. She trained to be an airline stewardess with American Airlines and began her career in 1945. Dovie was a flight attendant for American Airlines for 55 years and flew out of DFW all over the world. At the time of her retirement in 2000, she was recognized for having the most seniority of any AA flight attendant, an honor that she worked long and hard to achieve. Although she flew around the world, she never had a driver's license. She was recognized by the United States Government for her service on flights carrying US servicemen in and out of Vietnam during the war. Following the war, she continued to serve on flights carrying servicemen to US bases abroad, including Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. She was very proud of this service to her country and talked about it in recent years. She made many friends while working for American Airlines. Dovie loved butterflies. She was fascinated with fashion and loved to shop at Neiman-Marcus. Dovie had a very wry sense of humor and was always generous to friends and family. Dovie was preceded in death by her parents, "Auntie" Fay Wallace, brother, Tommie Teal in 1999, sister, Connie Teal in 2007, and sister-in-law, Jane Teal in 2008. Left to cherish her memories are nephews Gary Teal (Arabella) and their daughter, India of New Orleans, LA and son, Mason of Washington, DC, Ron (Venita) Teal of Abilene and their sons, Jeffrey (Caroline) and Jackson (Lindsey), both of Austin, and niece, Laurie Teal (Hamish Dempster) of New Zealand and their sons, Finlay and Tavish, and long-time friend and fellow American Airlines Flight Attendant, Paula Matson Panchak. Honorary pallbearers will be fellow American Airlines Flight attendants. Memorials may be given to Hospice of the Big Country, 4601 Hartford, Abilene, TX 79605. Her family wishes to extend our sincere thanks to the staff at Covenant Place of Abilene, Encompass Home Health, Visiting Angels, and Hospice of the Big Country for outstanding care and compassion for the last 5 years.