Dorothea Schmidt Sleight

Dorothea (“Dot”, “Dotty”) Schmidt Sleight, a cherished wife, mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, mother-in-law, and aunt, passed away peacefully on November 25, 2025, in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Born on July 2, 1943, Dot was the second of five children of Gordon and Esther Schmidt. She grew up in Richmond Heights, Ohio and graduated from Euclid High School in 1961. She continued her studies at Ohio University, majoring in English and Early Childhood Education, where she met her future husband, Thomas (“Tom”) Sleight. After earning her degree in 1965, Dot moved to Boston, to teach kindergarten in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dot and Tom married in 1966 and resided in Buffalo, New York, where Dot worked as an elementary school teacher while supporting Tom through his doctoral program. Their journey then took them abroad to the city of Leicester, England, where Dot again taught and supported Tom during his post-doctoral work—an experience she often recalled as one of her favorites.

Upon returning to the United States, the couple made their home in Columbia, Maryland, where they raised their four children. Dot lived a rich and active life as a Howard County Strider, a Howard County teacher, a church deacon, a devoted Beaverbrook homemaker, and a loyal friend. She loved reading novels, attending theater productions, traveling the world, hiking National Parks, taking long walks, experimenting with new recipes, sharing the unmistakable “Schmidt cackle,” and, above all, spending treasured time with family at the lake and on Pawleys Island.

Dot is survived by her husband, Tom; her daughters, Kristen Sleight Devaney (Brendan) and Ketti Sleight Leff (David); her sons, Randall Sleight (Jessica) and Ryan Sleight (Julie); her brothers, Richard (Judy), Robert (Luann), and William Schmidt; her sister, Carolyn Schmidt Roberts (Allan); and her eight grandchildren—Kyra, Evan, Aidan, Kendall, Madelyn, Carson, Sierra, and Aleda.

A Celebration of Life service honoring Dot will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Howard County in Columbia, Maryland, on December 27 at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Guatemala educational scholarship fund at First Presbyterian Church of Howard County using this link- Guatemala Scholarship.