AUGUSTA ? Dorothy Lyford Dennett, 89, died December 23, 2001, at the Augusta Rehabilitation Center on Eastern Avenue. She had lived for nearly 50 years at 1 Fifth Avenue in Augusta with her husband, Gordon Dennett. She was born in Malden, Mass., Nov. 13, 1912, the daughter of Charles and Lydia Whitcomb Lyford. She moved to Maine early in the 1920s, where she lived in the Bangor area and on Peaks Island in Casco Bay before moving to Augusta. There, she attended Augusta schools, graduating from Cony High School in 1931. In 1929, she and Gordon S. Dennett became members of the Green Street United Methodist Church in Augusta, where they were married in 1932 and where she served for a time as church organist many years ago. Gordon died in 1990. As of 1937, Dorothy was employed by the state of Maine, serving in several departments, and also worked at the Blaine Mansion in 1943 as social secretary for Mrs. Sumner Sewall, wife of the governor, before becoming assistant Senate reporter for the Maine Legislature, serving in the early years there with her father, Charles Lyford. In 1961, former Gov. John Reed, whom she knew and so well respected, appointed her as chairman of the Augusta Board of Registration of Voters. She retired from all active state and city government service in 1966. She was a member of the R.B. Capen Rebekah Lodge in Augusta, and for many years was an active and very successful member of the Augusta Players, where she performed a number of lead roles. In the late 1930s, she took flying lessons and became a licensed pilot, one of very few women pilots in the state at that time. She belonged to a flying club and flew out of the Augusta State Airport. She absolutely loved to fly and did so until grounded by World War II. Her many and varied interests also included poetry, she had numerous poems published in the Kennebec Journal, and she also had a weekly radio program using the name WRDO radio in the 1930s. She and her sister, Evelyn, also did one of the early radio singing commercials. She was an avid reader, enjoyed religion and philosophy, was always interested in politics, loved her dollhouses and her dolls, and she grew beautiful African violets. She loved to knit, did crewel work and needlepoint, and spent many peaceful hours camping with her husband, Gordon. They were also avid Red Sox baseball fans. Dorothy is survived by two sons and their wives, Barry A. Dennett and Judith McCourtney Dennett, of Augusta, and David R. Dennett and Vivian Vautier Dennett, of East Winthrop; a sister, Evelyn Combellack, of Moorstown, N.J.; a brother, Dr. Norman Lyford, of Ashburn, Va.; five grandchildren, Bonnie Dennett, of Gardiner, Brian Dennett, of Gray, Bridget McKenzie, of Augusta, Karen Rossignol, of Clinton, John Dennett, of Augusta; 14 great-grandchildren; and several nieces. There will be no visiting hours. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 26, at Knowlton & Hewins Funeral Home, 1 Church Street, Augusta, with the Rev. Janice Davis officiating. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery in Augusta. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dorothy's memory to the Green Street United Methodist Church, 13 Green St., Augusta 04330; or to the Kennebec Historical Society, 61 Winthrop St., Augusta 04330.