Mary Morris spent the Friday after Thanksgiving just like hundreds of thousands of others across metro Atlanta, shopping.
It was at Macy’s in Lenox that she found the perfect off-white top, with gold accents, to wear for the family Christmas party. The party, an annual event, was to be held at her Clarkston home a little more than a week later.
Mary Virginia Morris, of Clarkston, died Saturday after a brief period of respiratory distress. She was 105. A funeral service has been planned for 1 p.m. Thursday in the chapel of A. S. Turner & Sons, who is also in charge of arrangements. She will be buried in her one of her favorite suits, a blue number with white trim that she purchased for her 100th birthday, her niece Nancy Kaye said.
“That one came from Parisian,” her niece said of the blue suit. “Aunt Mary loved to shop.”
For years, Ms. Kaye and Miss Morris spent their Fridays shopping. In their younger years, they shopped, had dinner and saw a movie. Recently, they’d trimmed their outings to shopping and a trip to Starbucks, Ms. Kaye said.
Family was a major part of Miss Morris’ life, her niece said, but she also had a career. She worked for approximately 40 years for the insurance firm of Spratlin-Harrington, Ms. Kaye said. Miss Morris, born in DeKalb County, started working in the 1920s and likely provided a significant level of service for the firm, said her great-niece Gail Wade.
“Many of the women ran the offices for the men who were absent during the war,” Mrs. Wade said, referring to World War II. “And I’ve always gotten the impression that Aunt Mary was very strong and a very hard worker and I know her firm appreciated her for that.”
Upon her retirement, Miss Morris refused to sit in the wings and watch life pass her by, family members said. She traveled, painted and took up dancing.
“There was a group that she was in, it was a clogging group and they performed all over,” Ms. Kaye said. “I even ran into her once while I was working and she was out performing at an event. She stayed quite busy.”
Miss Morris’ death took her family by surprise, as she’d spent Thanksgiving with a small group and was actively making plans for the Christmas party.
“I was blown away when I got the call,” Ms. Kaye said. “We’d had a wonderful two days, and then this.”
The family Christmas party was a big deal, Mrs. Wade said. It was always at the home Miss Morris shared with her sister Eleanor Morris, who died in 2002.
“She and all of the other mothers and aunts would dress up in long dresses and organdy aprons and cook a huge Christmas dinner,” Mrs. Wade said. “And we would get out the silver and good china and candles.”
Mrs. Wade said the family agreed they should still gather at Aunt Mary’s house Sunday as planned.
“Lately, the parties weren’t as elaborate as they had been, but they were still a lot of fun,” she said. “We decided Aunt Mary would want us to go ahead with the party, so we will. It will be teary but wonderful.”
Miss Morris is survived by a number of great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, two great-great-great nieces and one great-great-great nephew.
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