Punta Clara's Dot Pacey dies at 88
Monday, June 23, 2008
By RUSS HENDERSON
Staff Reporter
Dot Pacey, who made candies and jams for more than 50 years after starting up the Punta Clara Candy Kitchen in Point Clear, died Saturday after a years-long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, family members said.

She was 88. Along with her famous pralines, fudges, jellies and preserves, Dot had been featured nationally on the Food Network and on ABC's "Good Morning America." And in Point Clear, she was at the center of a close-knit, extended family, many of whom grew up working at the candy shop.

"She was definitely the matriarch of the family," said Susan Pacey, Dot's daughter-in-law. "Dot always said it was so good to go to church and see her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. And she was the main reason four generations of Paceys all still live here in the same area."

Dot Pacey also was part of the inspiration for scientific studies begun this year into the causes of rare cancers and neurological disorders in Baldwin County. Lesley Farrey Pacey, Dot's granddaughter-in-law and a Press-Register correspondent, began gathering data years ago when her 4-year-old daughter was afflicted with leukemia. Lesley Farrey Pacey thought it was odd that so many people in her immediate family had cancers or ALS.

Researchers with the University of Arizona, the University of Nebraska and the Alabama Department of Public Health are investigating whether the incidence of rare diseases is higher in some Baldwin County areas, and what the diseases' causes may be.

Paul Pacey Jr., Dot's son and Susan's husband, said his mother had opened the candy shop as a hobby in 1952. The hobby turned into a necessity when her husband, Paul Pacey Sr., died of leukemia in 1972.

"After dad died, she threw her whole self into it, and that was her life. She worked and worked until she couldn't work anymore," Paul Pacey Jr. said.

The family business ? which still operates out of the family's ancestral Victorian home on Scenic U.S. 98 ? is now principally run by Kim Clay, Paul Pacey Jr.'s daughter and Dot's granddaughter.

"The thing she liked most of all was talking to customers," Clay said of her grandmother.

Dot Pacey was diagnosed with ALS in 2002, but kept working at the shop until August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina irreparably damaged her home near the Punta Clara Kitchen, Clay said.

That September, Dot moved into Carroll Place, a Mercy Medical assisted living facility in Fairhope, Clay said. A family member was with her almost every day, Clay said. When Dot's took a turn for the worse in early June, Clay established a schedule that had a family or church member sitting beside Dot 24 hours a day.

Dot Pacey lost the ability to speak years ago, but managed to communicate by pointing to letters on a board, Clay said.

Dozens of people visited Dot over the past month, including former kitchen employees and loyal customers.

"She wanted to know what was going on with everyone. She didn't want to miss anything. She was genuinely interested in everyone's stories," Clay said.

In the end, she died peacefully, Paul Pacey Jr. said.

"One of the great-grandchildren said 'I bet she's in heaven doing cartwheels and smiling,'" Susan Pacey said. "And smiling. She hadn't been able to really smile in a long time."