Dot Haldeman, 86, ‘Great Southern lady’ and skilled shooter

By Rick Badie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dot Haldeman’s e-mail moniker was “deadeyedot.”

Here’s why: Years ago, she earned the top score for marksmanship in a citizens’ law enforcement class sponsored by College Park police.

A son, John Walter Haldeman Jr. of Riverdale, believes hand and arm strength helped his mother outshoot classmates. He credits that to her piano playing, something she’d done since childhood.

“Don’t ever mess with any piano player,” he said, laughing.

Especially Mrs. Haldeman. She was a pistol. Packed one, too.

She always kept a handgun handy. Even when she mowed the lawn. Even when she attended church, shopped or visited friends, like Jane Randolph of College Park.

“Her facade was as the great Southern lady,” Mrs. Randolph said, “but she was a great gun-lover. She went anywhere at night. She’d say, ‘I’m not afraid. I have help.’ You would have loved to have been around her.”

For Mrs. Haldeman, age apparently presented no barrier. She volunteered in the College Park community well into her 80s. She was up in age, too, when she joined the Swinging Old Dudes, a group of musicians who played 1930s and 1940s tunes. They were regulars at nursing homes and places like Christian City, a retirement community and refuge for displaced children in Union City. She played keyboards.

“It was a different musical challenge for her,” said a son, Jeffery Cornelius Haldeman of Advance, N.C. “She wasn’t used to the improvisation end of it. Obviously, the music brought back a lot of memories. She’d done it the past three or four years.”

Dorothy “Dot” Louise Huff Haldeman, 86, of Peachtree City died Aug. 20 at Southland Nursing Home in Peachtree City from heart failure. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at College Park United Methodist Church. Carmichael-Hemperley Funeral Home of East Point is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Haldeman grew up on a farm off Huff Road, property that became part of Six Flags Over Georgia. She and her family moved to Atlanta, where she was born, when she was a teen. She was a 1941 graduate of Commercial High School, where she took typing, shorthand and related courses. It helped her land a position as an administrative assistant to a vice president at Trust Company Bank, now SunTrust. Her next job was with Merrill Lynch. She became one of the city’s first female stockbrokers.

“Her boss needed someone to assist with employee accounts,” said her son, John Haldeman Jr. “You had to be a broker to do that. She took the [stockbroker’s exam] and passed.”

Mrs. Haldeman retired when she was 65, but kept active. She was a member of the College Park Historical Society. She was president of the Airport Area Kiwanis Club as well as the College Park Woman’s Club.

“She was unbelievably intelligent,” said Mrs. Randolph, a friend for more than 30 years.

“Age did not stop deadeyedot.”

Additional survivors include another son, Jerry Lucian Haldeman of Newnan; 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.