Doris Lovell Dunn
On the morning of Oct. 24, 2024, our Mum, Gram, and Great-Gram, Doris Lovell Dunn, passed away in her sleep at the age of 94. We celebrate her long life and the love she had for the beauty found in nature, music, learning, words, the Gospel, and most of all, her family.
When we remember her, we think of her as a teacher, grammarian, and lover of opera, classical, and jazz music (she even met Miles Davis and Chuck Mangione). She was a beatnik and artist, a rebel before her time. She continued going to school in secret even when she was forbidden to go and went on to complete her GED later in life. She was a cartographer and won multiple awards from the Bureau of the Census for drawing beautiful and precise maps. Her art included a variety of media, from painting watercolors to sewing dresses for Ms. Gay Knoxville to cooking culinary delights such as beef tongue sandwich and beef steak and kidney pie.
She passed on many traditions to her own family, including the Lovell Christmas toast, the Lovell family initiation ritual, and daily Jeopardy viewings.
Doris May Lovell was born on May 10, 1930 in Rochester, New York. She was the first child of the Lovell family born on this side of the Atlantic Ocean after her father, mother, and four older siblings emigrated to the United States from England.
In the following years, she was joined by three younger siblings. Doris married George Woittiez, with whom she had four children: Geoffrey (Candy), Cynthia (Robert), Timothy (Stacey), and Janice (Scott). In 1965, she married Lindsay Dougal and had another child, Elizabeth (Kevin). She married once more in the 1990s to Ted Dunn.
Over the years, she welcomed five grandchildren: Jeremy (Angela), Jonathan (Holly), Victoria (Brian), Ryan (Rachel), and Belle. Five great-grandchildren have since been born: Cooper, Ansley, Keegan, Mason, and Thomas. She was preceded in death by her children Timothy and Cynthia, and by five siblings: Frank, Reginald, Leonard, Gwendoline, and Geoffrey. She is survived by her siblings Grace and Joyce.
Doris’s legacy includes her family and friends, whom she loved dearly, such as faithful companions Lorri Johnson and Katie Musgrave. She loved well and was so well-loved in return.
Growing up during the Great Depression, Doris learned the value of frugality, and living through World War II taught her the values of unity and patriotism.
Doris supported racial equality by standing up to discrimination in the housing market, and went against the grain when it came to childrearing, giving birth without anesthesia and opting to breastfeed her children even when it was out of fashion to do so.
As a parent, she instilled a love of reading in her children by reading to them nearly every night. Doris impressed the importance of family, duty, grammar, manners, etiquette and appreciation for the arts on each of her loved ones. Her love of teaching and mentoring even extended into her death with her decision to donate her body to scientific research. She didn’t know a stranger; there was no such thing as a “quick” errand, as she would start spontaneous conversations with anybody and everybody at the store. This attitude extended to her goodbyes as she always insisted on waving goodbye from her porch.
Doris worked in many roles throughout her life, including as a hospital intake staff member, Census interviewer, painter, choral soloist, volunteer with the Contact suicide prevention hotline, and a seamstress who spent countless hours sewing Easter dresses for her daughters. Additionally, she was an actress who played in Norris Little Theater productions such as “Inherit the Wind” and “Blithe Spirit.” In fact, she may have missed her calling as an actress, as she’d bring the house down in comedies, and even acted in a movie called “Laughing at the Moon” — check out her IMDb page!
Doris found great comfort and joy in sharing the story of how she became a Christian, and she was a beloved member of three churches over a period of 50 years. She often sought to encourage young believers with anecdotes and Bible passages that were near and dear to her heart. Furthermore, she prayed unceasingly for her loved ones and made it clear how important they were to her.
Join us for a celebration of her life to be held on Nov. 23, 2024, at Norris First Baptist Church, 149 W. Norris Road, Norris, with a receiving of friends at 11 a.m., followed by a celebration of life at noon. In lieu of flowers, the family requests you consider donating to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at donate.imaginationlibrary.com.