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Dotsons’ energy, work ethic helping transform Orange
Kenny and Lora Dotson work hard for family and community
Date published: 7/19/2008
BY ROBIN KNEPPER Kenny and Lora Dotson are forces of nature in Orange County, known for high energy and hard work. Although Kenny will always take the time to talk, Lora is most often found working. From behind the wheel of a dump truck she had just unloaded recently, Lora explained: “I don’t like to sit idle. I like to work.” “Lora takes up my slack,” Dotson said. “We work together seven days a week, and we’re trying to instill a hard-work ethic in our children. I refer to her as my right and my left hand.” They met in Orange County High School when Kenny, now 45, was a senior and Lora, now 43, was a sophomore. After graduation he attended Germanna Community College, earning three degrees. While in college, he worked at a local dairy farm and joined his father in the tile-laying trade. They married and found jobs in Northern Virginia. Kenny was successful in the construction business in the fast-growing Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport area, and Lora had a good job with the U.S. Marshals Service. But they got tired of the commute. “We wanted to be in business for ourselves and start a family,” he said. Son Josh, 19, will soon start his second year at James Madison University. Daughter Brooke, 16, will be a junior at Orange County High School. In the mid-1980s, the Dotsons purchased Buddy Padgett’s store at the corner of State Routes 20 and 611. The building is still standing, diagonally across the intersection from the Dotsons’ Locust Grove Town Center. “It was a country store with boarded-up windows and three gas pumps under a canopy,” Dotson recalled. “Twenty years ago, there was nothing else out here in Locust Grove, and he wasn’t doing any business. I doubt if he was grossing $60 a day. So we bought his inventory and gave him something for his goodwill. “The first year, we worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. It was almost worse than working at the dairy,” he added with a laugh.
Read more stories about Orange Date published: 7/19/2008
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