Dot Barineau

If you knew Dot Barineau well enough to say hello when you ran into each other, there’s a good chance you were at least once or twice on the receiving end of some of the best baked goods you’ve ever tasted.

Not feeling well? Dot was soon on her way to deliver a container of homemade soup and a loaf of her own sourdough bread.

Taking care of folks was just what she did best.

Born on April 2, 1932, Laura Dot Whelchel Barineau grew up on a pecan farm near Rochelle, Georgia. A graduate of Abbeville High School, Dot went on to complete her nurses training at Crawford W. Long Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta.

While in Nursing School, Dot was introduced to a handsome young Georgia Tech student name Eugene Barineau (deceased). The two married in July of 1953 and Dot went to work as a registered nurse while Gene finished his degree and worked part time for Georgia Power Co.

From 1953 to 1994, Dot worked as a nurse in hospitals and physicians’ offices – all while raising an active family.

Dot loved to cook and sew, making all kinds of clothing for her children and herself.

In fact, nothing was more important to Dot than family. She loved spending time with her children and grandchildren, and spent many hours keeping up with her siblings, nieces and nephews and countless cousins. She especially loved attending the annual Whelchel family reunions held in South Georgia every July 4th.

Throughout their married life, Dot and her husband Gene were active in Methodist churches in Clarkston, Stone Mountain, Macon and Lawrenceville. Dot loved participating in the United Methodist Women’s Circle groups and attending Sunday School with friends who felt like family.

Dot and Gene enjoyed traveling and went on many trips with Georgia Power’s Ambassadors Club for company retirees. The two were also loyal Georgia Tech fans with Dot in charge of making sure everyone in the family was supplied with plenty of Yellow Jacket T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and other paraphernalia. First diagnosed in 1979, Dot was a breast cancer survivor of 45 years. She was very proud of her career in nursing and kept up her license well into her 80s, always ready to advise and answer questions on medical issues for family and friends.

Dot’s very full earthly life was completed on Nov. 4, 2024. She was preceded in death by her parents Benjamin T. Whelchel and Susie Mae Dodson Whelchel; by her siblings Nadauna Whelchel Morgan, Billy T. Whelchel, Edna Whelchel Cannon, Sara Whelchel Patrenos and Jack D. Whelchel; and by her husband Eugene C. Barineau.

Surviving Dot are her daughter Janet Barineau Jacobs and her husband James C. Jacobs of Lawrenceville; son Benjamin C. Barineau and his wife Cara Maron Barineau of Atlanta; granddaughter Brynn Barineau and her husband Alceu Mauricio, Jr., of Decatur; grandson Joshua Barineau and his wife, Lauren Fields Barineau of Decatur; grandson Neal Jacobs and his wife-to-be Donna Jacobs of Monroe; and granddaughter Laura-Ann Jacobs and her husband Tyler Stone of Ann Arbor, MI. Also surviving are great grandchildren Audrey Barineau Mauricio of Decatur; Eleanor and Cooper Barineau of Decatur; and Sunhee Stone of Ann Arbor, MI.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at a later date at Lawrenceville 1st United Methodist Church, 395 W. Crogan St., Lawrenceville GA 30046.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer’s Association.