Dottie Martin

Martin also made restorations and improvements to the North Carolina Executive Mansion during her time as first lady. Beginning with a grant from the Junior League of Raleigh, she fundraised $185,000 to re-landscape the mansion's grounds, in particular the Victorian garden on the south lawn. She started public tours of the gardens and created an informative brochure about the grounds. The Victorian garden was officially re-dedicated to Martin on May 27, 1987. In 1988, Martin helped establish the Executive Mansion Fund, a non-profit that raised more than two million dollars for restoration efforts. In 1991, the Executive Mansion's centennial year, Martin encouraged the production of a historical video and book on the mansion, and established the curator's office. She also requested that the portrait of former first lady Jeanelle C. Moore, who established the Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee, be hung in the Ladies Parlour.

She contacted the North Carolina Department of Transportation inquiring if wildflower beds could be cultivating along the state highways, after seeing a similar project in Texas. The department began a program for planting wildflowers in 1985 and won a national award for it. The award was later presented to Martin in recognition of her inspiration in starting the program.

Martin worked in the Industrial Relations Department at Princeton University while her husband was studying for his doctorate there. In 1960, they moved to Davidson, North Carolina, where she worked as a kindergarten teacher until 1972. She later worked as a real-estate broker for seven years.

Martin met her husband, James G. Martin, while attending a Presbyterian youth conference. They married on June 1, 1957 and had three children: James Grubbs Martin, Jr., Emily Wood Martin, and Arthur Benson Martin. The family lived in Washington, D.C. during her husband's term as a member of the United States House of Representatives. During her husband's term as Governor of North Carolina, the family lived in the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh. After her husband's term ended, they retired to their home in Charlotte and lake house on Lake Norman.

Dorothy Ann "Dottie" Martin (née McAulay; born January 21, 1937) is an American educator and real estate broker who, as the wife of Governor James G. Martin, served as the First Lady of North Carolina from 1985 to 1993. As first lady, she supported protections for children and substance abuse prevention efforts. Martin also relandscaped the grounds of the North Carolina Executive Mansion and contributed to the establishment of a program within the North Carolina Department of Transportation for planting wildflower beds along state highways. She also served as the chairwoman of the North Carolina Commission on Child Victimization and the North Carolina Commission on the Family.

Martin was born on January 21, 1937 in Charlotte, North Carolina to Benson Wood McAulay and Dorothy Louise Gill McAulay. She grew up in North Carolina and in South Carolina. She attended Queens College and the University of South Carolina with plans of becoming a director of Christian education in the Presbyterian Church.