July 6, 1940 – October 30, 2025
In Autumn of 1954, Leo “Buddy” Park wrote his sisters in Texas about his 14-year-old daughter Dot: “By all rights, she should be spoiled, which she isn’t; she should be selfish and jealous, which she isn’t; and I can’t give you the answer. … I do know we are very eager to be together and that she has brought me happiness I can never repay. I always get a little sentimental when I speak of Dorothy. I can’t help it, that’s the way I feel.”
Dorothy Burnett Park Hensley of Shreveport died Thursday, October 30 in Houston.
Dot was the daughter of Leo Goodwin Park and Gertrude Julia Burnett and wife of Edward Randolph Hensley. She was a charter member of St Paul’s Episcopal Church and a student of A.C. Steere, C.E. Byrd High School, and Centenary College, all of Shreveport.
A charter member of St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Dot served as a Vestry member and volunteer. She joined forces with her dear friend Jerry Bigner to create a children’s clothing business, Custom Toddle Togs. She was a member of Centenary Muses and a volunteer of the Centenary Book Fair. She was a sustainer of the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier, a deliverer for Meals on Wheels, and a volunteer and board member and later resident of the Glen Retirement System. She was chairman for several successful candidates for office on the local and state levels, including Dave Treen, Ed McGuire, B.F. O’Neal, Bruce Lynn, Charles Peatross, Charles Lindsay, and Tom Arceneaux. She was a teacher at Agnew School, a director of the American Heart Association of Shreveport, and oversaw public relations at Broadmoor Florist.
Dot is survived by a son, Lane Goodwin Hensley and his wife, Rebecca Karnes Hensley of Des Moines, Iowa; a daughter, Julia Hensley Bayouth and her husband, Frank Ed Bayouth of Houston; and grandchildren Ellen Julia Hensley of Portland, Ore., Robert Edward Hensley of Mount Pleasant, Wisc., Ed Frank Bayouth and his wife Lauren Ferrell Harper Bayouth of Houston, and Patrick Randolph Bayouth of Midland, Tex. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband.
A memorial service and reception will be Monday, November 10 at 2 p.m. at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, 275 Southfield Rd in Shreveport after a private burial.
Dot’s family recommends that memorials be directed to St Paul’s Episcopal Church or Centenary College.