The Domingus name is well known in Dothan.
In 1888, Dothan mayor A.C. Crawford appointed 19-year-old J.L. “Tobe” Domingus as town marshal to keep the peace and help control Farmer’s Alliance members who established their own cotton gin that competed with merchants’ and bankers’ commerce. In October 1889, tensions between Marshal Domingus and the Alliance leader George Stinger boiled over into the infamous “Dothan Riot,” a fast-paced brawl and gunfight that led to the deaths of three farmers and severe injury to other participants and bystanders. Domingus killed Stringer but suffered life threatening wounds. When he recovered, he was acquitted of Stringer’s murder in an Ozark trial. He continued to serve in law enforcement for the next 45 years. The Wiregrass Festival of Murals commemorated the Dothan Riot in one of its first five murals painted in the 1990s.
Tobe’s son, John L. Domingus, Jr., followed his notorious father into public service, though not law enforcement. He joined the postal service in 1908 at the age of 18 where he spent the next 42 years. J.L. served under seven different postmasters and retired with nine months of sick leave under regulations that allowed only ten days of sick leave per year. John and his wife, Mollie Bess Matthews Domingus had one child, Carolyn.
Carolyn Matthews Domingus, continued her family’s tradition of service, though in her case it took her far from home. She graduated from Young Junior High School, Dothan in 1937, and attended the University of Alabama after which she joined the American Association of University Women. She played piano and offered dance classes in tap, toe, and ballet. Miss Domingus, as she was known, worked as a clerk at Napier Field when it was activated in World War 2, and as a clerk-stenographer at the Dothan office of the Veterans Administration. She later spent five years working with Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, FL, in the purchasing and contract department.
Carolyn put her music and dance skills to use on an international scale. She worked with the Army Special Services as a service club director, planning entertainment programs for servicemen, and was stationed in Kobe, Hakata and Tokyo, Japan and Pusan, Korea during and after the Korean War, from 1952 to 1954. She followed that service with 2 years in Germany as a service club director with the U.S. Air Force Special Services. When she returned to the States, Carolyn took a position as service club director in various locations, including Fort Meade, Md., Luke Air Force Base, Glendale, AZ, Fort Riley, KS, and Fort Benning, GA.
Little is known about Carolyn’s later years, though she is buried with her parents in Union Cemetery, Ozark, AL.
Sources:
Kirkland, Scotty E. “Dothan”. Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2447, 23 Nov. 2015.
Kirkland, Scotty E. “’Bad, Bad Dothan!’: The Dothan Riot and Wiregrass Agrarianism.” The Alabama Review. July 2007, pg. 167-181. http://www.sekirkland.com/uploads/1/0/0/3/10035012/bad_bad_dothan_original.pdf. 23 Nov. 2015.
Cutler, Helon H. “Truth of the Riot of Dothan.” http://www.ircusa.com/downtown/html/dothan_riot.html. 14 May 2024.
The Picket Line. “Tax Resisters Gunned Down in Dothan, Alabama”. https://sniggle.net/TPL/index5.php?entry=12Oct13. 14 May 2024.
“Junior-Senior Banquet is Highlight of Season,” The Dothan Eagle, May 19, 1937, 3.
“Women’s Page,” The Dothan Eagle, May 15, 1938, 5.
“Talented Dancer,” The Dothan Eagle, May 23, 1937, 9.
“Carolyn Domingus Reopens here Dancing Classes…,” The Dothan Eagle, August 30, 1936, 7.
“New VA Worker,” The Dothan Eagle, June 12, 1946, 10.
“Assigned to Yokohama,” The Dothan Eagle, June 1, 1952, 8.
“Miss Domingus, Mother Plan Visit in New York,” The Dothan Eagle, July 18, 1954, 8.
“Miss Domingus to Visit Parents,” The Dothan Eagle, May 25, 1958, 18.
“Personals,” The Dothan Eagle, January 11, 1963, 8.
“John Lewis Domingus Jr. (27 Jun 1891–17 Jul 1972),” Find a Grave, accessed April 25, 2024, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12167642/john_lewis-domingus.
