DR. Dorothy L. Matthews-Paynter returned home to Bermuda this week, presumably for a rest, after a whirlwind round of events celebrating her 85th birthday.Dorothy lived up to the reputation she has gained over the years of doing something well out of the ordinary to mark significant milestones in her busy life.

This time she went on a cruise that took in Miami, the Cayman Islands and Belize, accompanied by her daughter Yvette Smith and sister Helen Williams and a close-knit circle of friends.

And to top it off, she was feted at a surprise party at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The surprise was in the number in attendance, being well over 100 relatives, friends and business colleagues who came from every which way to wish Dorothy well.

Dorothy enjoyed the distinction of being Bermuda’s only trichologist, a specialist in hair and scalp diseases, and the only one with a PhD in cosmetology, having been the first ever to graduate with that degree from Dudley University, North Carolina.

Her last grand celebration was a trip to the Orient. She was accompanied then by daughter Yvette who, like her mother, is a trained cosmetologist. They attended the1998 World Olympics of Hair Dressers in Seoul, South Korea, having attended nine previous championships in such places as Cologne, Paris, Barcelona, New York, Las Vegas and Washington, DC.

Dorothy credited her son Walter with setting up the big party in Atlanta. He is a certified general appraiser in the city.

Her granddaughter Polly Tatum, who is a practising attorney in Worcester, Massachusetts, attended, as did Dr. Lew Matthews, a maths professor at Georgia State University.

Directly from Bermuda were Julian Grant, Roland Simons, Florenz Maxwell and Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Seymour.

Our picture shows Dorothy flanked by her son Walter and friend. On the right is Debra Matthews, the wife of Percy Matthews, whose jazz trio provided entertainment at the Atlanta party.