Dorothy Clark Morris

Dorothy Merle Clark was born on Christmas Day, 1929 in Marianna, Florida.  Her parents divorced when Dot was young. Coming from a broken home gave Dot the determination to provide a better environment for her children when she had a family of her own.

Dot was a bright girl and did well in school.  She learned to value education and saw it as a way to improve her situation.  She was the first person in her family to graduate from high school.  While Dot was in nursing school she met a handsome Georgia boy, Beb Morris, who was doing an internship in Marianna.  He married the “pretty girl with a belly laugh” in 1951 and they moved to Tallahassee so he could finish his degree.  While living there they had their first child, a daughter they named Patty.

In 1953 the small family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia where Beb had taken a job as a psychologist with the Georgia State Mental Hospital.  One of Dot’s favorite fun facts for party ice breakers was, “I gave birth to my son in the Georgia State Mental Hospital”.  That son was Jim; the family was now complete.

In 1959 Beb’s work brought them to Tarpon Springs, Florida.  Dot was a stay-at-home Mom, but she was determined to continue with her education.  She regularly took classes at the University of Tampa and eventually earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, cum laude.  Once her children were grown, she decided to work outside the home and got a job in the travel department of a bank.

She enjoyed the work and was diligent to learn the various aspects of the business.  She soon decided to open her own agency, Caladesi Travel Service, in Dunedin.  Dot was a good business woman, a hard worker, and her agency did well.  Hers was one of the first travel agencies in the area to become computerized.

In the early 1970s Dot came to know Jesus Christ as her personal savior.  She had grown up in church and believed what she was taught.  But a personal crisis showed her that she was a sinner and no amount of hard work or good deeds could earn God’s favor or get her into heaven.  God was holy; Dot was not.  It was only by her accepting God’s gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that God could look on sinful Dot and see Jesus’s perfect holiness.

In the mid 1990’s, Beb began to show signs of dementia and Dot’s focus changed.  She sold Caladesi Travel and stayed home to care for him. It was a job that took time and patience but it wasn’t in Dot’s character to back down from a challenge. Even after she began to show signs of dementia herself, her love and determination enabled her to continue to care for Beb at home until his death.  In 2011 Dot moved to Arden Courts where she was lovingly referred to as the Energizer Bunny because she kept going and going and going…until September 17, 2024.

Daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, believer.  That’s the essence of Dot Morris.

Graveside service has been canceled due to weather concerns Wednesday, September 25th at Cycadia Cemetery, Tarpon Springs, Florda

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