September 1, 2000 UNT Inhouse publication: portrait gallery

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Dot Whatley has spent 45 years perfecting her green thumb

Dot Whatley Dot Whatley can be found at any given hour elbow-deep in a bed of flowers. She's been making UNT beautiful for the last 18 years, but she's been a farmer since she was 6.

"When I was a little girl, you played until you started school," says Whatley, who grew up in Chico. "Then you went to work in the peanut fields. Planting has become something I know and enjoy."

But she's not the only person who enjoys the greenery. Some of her best compliments have come from UNT students. "Every day students stop and say how much they enjoy the flowers," she says. "But there are also some that just don't see 'em."

Dot isn't one to not stop and smell the roses. At home she spends time with her two nephews — Zackary, 8, and Quinton, 3. "They're like my grandkids," Dot says. "If I could spend time with anyone, it'd be them."

Besides plants, her other lifelong loves include the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers and country singer George Jones. "I can't remember not watching or listening to any of them," she says.

And while many know of her love for football, few people know that Dot can play a mean ukulele as well as the guitar and fiddle. She learned how to play the ukulele more than 30 years ago in Hawaii. She also learned how to surf, which she says she doesn't do as well.

"I went to see a friend and ended up staying in Hawaii for a year — it was just a lot of fun," Whatley says. "I worked at the naval exchange and I was supposed to be selling shoes, but I spent all of my time in the music department learning the ukulele."

Whatley says she's enjoyed all of her adventuring, and she's happy to make her home at UNT.