Sunrise, May 9, 1933 — Sunset, June 27, 2021
Bishop Dorothy Lee (Cotton) Blaylark-Hill, lovingly called “Peaches” by her family, went home to worship and be with the Lord on June 27, 2021, at 10 am on Sunday morning—her usual Sunday morning routine, only on this Sunday, it was spent with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ instead of her congregation.
She was born May 9, 1933, to Augustus Adolphusand Mary Frances Cotton in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was one of 11 children and was the baby of two girls and nine boys.
January 1950, Bishop Dorothy married Ersie B. Blaylark in holy matrimony. The following children were born of this union: Gail, Sharon, Raymond, Ioletta, Vanola (Vicky) Johnnie, Stephen, and Denise. Bishop Dorothy loved caring for her children and being a mother. Advancing her formal education, she attended the Fourth Baptist Bible College where she studied Old and New Testament in Action.
Bishop Dorothy also attended North Central Bible College to study Theology. She went on to receive her doctorate in Theology from the Minnesota Graduate School of Theology under Dean Dr. David Sigvertsen.
In 1959, she began studying evangelism under Reverend Morris Cerillo.
In 1960, she began traveling to Miracle Valley, Arizona, where she received her first ministerial license from the late Pastor A.A. Allen.
In the mid-1960s, she joined the Holy Ghost Temple Church of God in Christ under Pastor Harvey Carpenter in South Minneapolis. It was here where Bishop Dorothy honed her evangelism
skills, serving faithfully in child evangelism, tract, and help ministries respectively.
In1968, Bishop Dorothy joined the Evangelist Crusaders Church in North Minneapolis. A year later, she became an ordained minister by the Reverend Walter A. Smith. She dutifully served that ministry for 29 years.
While associate minister at Evangelist Crusaders, she answered another call as assistant pastor, traveling from Minneapolis to New Hope Deliverance Church in Peoria, Ill. weekly under the Senior Pastor Dawson.
In addition to this, she worked as a teacher and counselor with the Minneapolis Public Schools as a counselor at Anthony Jr. H.S., and as an algebra teacher at Ramsey Jr. H.S. both in Minneapolis, MN. She was one of the first female African Americans in an administrative position, along with her responsibilities as a single mother raising her family.
In 1983, Bishop Dorothy was ordained for International Ministry and Third World evangelism by Bishop Benson Idahosa in Nigeria, Africa. This led, some years later, to her founding a Bible School in the village of Uyko and another School in Liberia, Africa. In addition, her international ministry travels included Rome, Haiti, Liberia, and some Third World countries.
In 1991, Bishop Dorothy received a call from the Lord to launch her own ministry. She began having services in her home. In a few short months, membership grew until her home was overflowing. God opened the door for the church to move into their first location at 106th and Lyndale
Avenue in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The congregation continued to grow and needed more space, so God led her to move back to the inner-city. She began having services in the Pillsbury Center for the Arts Center on 36th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. In 1994, the church outgrew the Pillsbury location and moved to 3500 E. Lake
Street in Minneapolis, where it currently resides.
Bishop had a rewarding life outside of ministry that included her family and friends with extensive
travel, reading, swimming, furniture restoration, and flower design and arrangement.
Bishop Dorothy entered into matrimony, marrying Mr. Albert Hill of Minneapolis by way of Texas. Through her dedication and self-sacrifice to the Lord, Bishop Dorothy touched thousands of lives around the globe. Her works paved the way for many women to succeed in ministry in a patriarchal domain.
Bishop Dorothy is preceded in death by her parents Augustus Adolphus and Mary Frances Cotton;
brothers Albert, Augustus, Leroy, Alonzo, and David; sister Rosalie; and children Sharon, John, Stephen, Vanola (Vicki), Ioletta, and Kenyata Bishop Dorothy is survived by her husband Mr. Albert Hill; children Gail (Nathaniel) Mullen; Raymond (Wanda) Blaylark; and Denise (Robert) Brown; 19 grandchildren, 28 great-and two great-great-grandchildren; a host of nieces and nephews Bishop Fred Washington, JD Mitchell, Paula Lee, Paul Cotton, Valery Burrell, Evette Cotton, David Cotton, Mary Cotton, Danette Cotton, Beeki Cotton, Steven Cotton, Calvin McIntyre, Stan McConnell, Vanessa Cotton, Daniel Cotton, Leroy Cotton, Sidney Cotton, Sharon Hill-Johnson, Stan McConnell.
Margaret Redd, Terri Cox, Carmela Brown, Felicia Butts; special friends Ruth Peterson, Bishop Williams, Bishop Jenkins, Pastors Norris, and Evonne Rose, Joyce Cochran, Marcia Burks-Westbrook,
Lenora Clark, Kenny Hollinsworth.
Dates of Service:
Friday, July 30, 2021
Wake/Reviewal 5-6 pm.
Musical 6-8 pm.
Saturday, July 31, 2021
Reviewal 11-12 Noon Funeral Service 12 Noon
Venue/ Location:
Mercy Vinyard Church
752 Harding St N.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55413
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