Dorothye Harper Dorothye Inez George Harper, 96 -- the first and only woman county judge in Lampasas County’s history -- died Sunday at Argent Court, an assisted-living facility in Bastrop. She had lived there since 2005.

Her body will be cremated.

An informal celebration of her life will be June 13 at 6 p.m. at the Vanita Craft Schnorrenberg residence on FM 2313 north of Kempner. All friends of Mrs. Harper are welcome to attend the memorial service.

Mrs. Harper was born May 12, 1914, in Richmond, Texas, to Addye and Alfred George. Her mother died when Mrs. Harper was only 8, and her father died when she was 10.

She then went to El Campo to live with her aunt and uncle, Gertye and George McMahon, who reared her along with the couple’s four children.

Mrs. Harper graduated from El Campo High School. She had wanted to become an architect, but her goal was altered dramatically before the completion of her senior year when a benefactor, who planned to send her to college, died.

She worked as a bookkeeper for a small oil company in El Campo. In April 1942, she began working for the civil service at Fort Hood. Her responsibilities included working on the annual budget for the entire post and serving as a supervisor.

Mrs. Harper met Maurice Irvine Harper at a dance, and the two were married just six weeks later, on Dec. 6, 1949. Exactly one year later, the Harpers’ daughter, Patsy, was born.

For the next 15 years or so, Mrs. Harper was out of the workforce. She served as a substitute letter carrier on a rural route in Kempner, however. She went back to Fort Hood in June 1966 and served there until her retirement in the late 1970s.

During her second stint at the Army base, Mrs. Harper was a cost reduction coordinator and budget analyst for III Corps and Fort Hood.

In Lampasas, she worked for the Buick dealership, an accounting firm and at a local nursing home.

At the age of 68, she was elected to a four-year term as Lampasas County judge.

She was active on various local boards and committees, including the American Heart Association and the museum board. She also served on a panel that helped resurrect Rollins-Brook Hospital. A member of the Silver Haired Legislature, she also was a member of Kempner United Methodist Church, where she put her love of architecture to work.

She drew the plans for an educational annex for the church in 1954. Ten years later, she drew the blueprints for a remodeling project that connected the annex with the church.

In Lampasas, she attended First United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church.

Mrs. Harper’s husband preceded her in death on Feb. 17, 1967. She is survived by her daughter of Paige, Texas.

Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice.

Crematory arrangements by Superior Memorial Services Inc. of Austin.