Taylor Funeral Home

Obituaries
Imogene Berry Morris
Date of Death or Service Dec 28, 2022
Imogene Berry Morris
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Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at 1:00 PM at Dickson First United Methodist Church with Bro. Allen Weller officiating. Visitation with the family will be on Tuesday from 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM at the Taylor Funeral Home and on Wednesday, December 28, 2022 from 12:00 PM until time of service at Dickson First United Methodist Church. Place of rest will be in the Dickson County Memorial Gardens. 

For those desiring, memorials may be made to: Dickson First United Methodist Church or American Cancer Society.

Imogene Berry Morris, age 92, of Burns, TN, passed away on December 20, 2022.

Mrs. Imogene, as her many friends called her, lived a full and very blessed life.  She was the second youngest daughter of Benjamin and Bertha Berry born on a farm near Charlotte, Tennessee on June 2, 1930.  

Imogene had 3 brothers and 5 sisters. Her siblings from oldest to youngest were: Aileen, Morris, Ward, Mildred, Frank, Tennie, Mary Evelyn, and Betty Lou. Two of her brothers, Ward and Frank served in active combat in the U.S. Army in WWII.

Imogene really enjoyed school. She loved art, especially painting with watercolors. She also enjoyed math where she excelled in Algebra and Geometry.  She graduated as Valedictorian of the Charlotte High School class of 1948.   

After graduating from high school, Imogene worked as a Stenographer for the National Life and Insurance Company in Nashville, Tennessee. Having a love of music, she took dance lessons at the Arthur Murray studio in Nashville and enjoyed going to weekend dances at the YMCA. One of her favorite dances was the East Coast Swing or “Jitterbug.”

Imogene and her girlfriends danced with many of the soldiers stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky who would come to the “Big City” on leave. Having a sense of adventure, and likely after hearing the travel stories from the young soldiers, Imogene decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy. No doubt she was attracted by the slogan, “Join the Navy and see the world.”

From 1951 to 1954, Imogene lived a storybook adventure serving as a Navy WAVE stationed in Oahu, Hawaii. In her spare time, she enjoyed swimming at Waikiki beach (Hawaii was not yet a State and the beaches were void of the hotels of today) and continued her musical hobby by taking ukulele lessons. She loved to play her ukulele and sing the Hawaiian songs she’d learned while watching the beautiful tropical sunrises and sunsets.

It was in Hawaii that she met her future husband, Arnold Morris. It so happened that Arnold was one of Imogene’s shift supervisors. This handsome, athletic, guy from North Carolina, with a ready smile, captivated Imogene. Because both she and Arnold shared a sense of adventure and love of the outdoors, their time together in Hawaii was splendid indeed. They enjoyed swimming in the ocean, exploring the island, and hanging out at the beach with each other and with their friends.   

Arnold completed his enlistment in the Navy in 1953 and soon, after returning to the states, he asked his red headed girlfriend (nicknamed, “Tennessee Red”) to become his wife. Imogene accepted his proposal and after completing her Navy enlistment, she married Arnold on September 28, 1954 in a small Methodist church in Vancouver, Washington. A year or so later while still living in Washington, they welcomed their first son, Brent (1956).

After living in Washington state for about a year, the young family moved back to Tennessee. Because Arnold was an orphan, they decided to move closer to Imogene’s family. Arnold found work in Nashville, and soon thereafter, they welcomed their second son, Kerry (1957).

Starting a family was not easy but Imogene was a hard worker. For years she put in long hours to support her family.  She cooked three meals a day, kept the house clean, washed clothes, made many of her own clothes (she loved to sew and knit), tended a garden (canning and freezing vegetables), and did everything she needed to do to raise her two sons and take care of her husband.

Most importantly, Imogene made sure her sons had a good Christian upbringing. Every Sunday, she and her family attended church (Methodist churches in Nashville and then Dickson). Because of her love of the Lord and her love of music and singing, Imogene was always a member of the church choir. She was a 40+ year member of the Dickson First Methodist church choir.

As we all know, life is not always a bed of roses. Imogene’s greatest tragedy was losing her husband, Arnold to cancer in 1994. In the year of their 40th wedding anniversary, the man that she’d hoped to spend the rest of her life with was taken from her.

Not one to feel sorry for herself, Imogene went on with her life with the intention of doing her best to help others. She continued to sing in the church choir and soon found a new opportunity. Imogene became a volunteer, an “ambassador” at the Dickson Renaissance Center.  For many years, she was a weekly volunteer at the Center, performing a variety of tasks and doing what she loved most, making people feel welcome. 

After enduring the toils of advancing age (one of her sayings was “old age is not for sissies”), Imogene’s later years were spent in several assisted living facilities; the first of which was Olive Branch in Dickson, Tennessee. For as long as she was able to get around, she enjoyed making the rounds at Olive Branch, greeting each resident by name. She prided herself in remembering and calling each resident by name.

Today, Imogene would want to greet each of you with a smile and a warm welcome. “Aloha Oe (farewell to thee in Hawaiian).” “One fond embrace… until we meet again.”

The Morris family is greatly honored that you have taken time out of your busy lives to pay your respects and to help celebrate the next and greatest step in Imogene’s journey... to sing forever with the Angels in the Heavenly choir.

Aloha Oe.

Survivors include her two sons; Brent Irwin Morris (Erin Leigh) of Thompson Station, Kerry Lee Morris (Georgia Carol) of Wartrace, TN, and several nieces and nephews.

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