Obituary

Dillie Morris Garrett, 99, a daughter of pioneer settlers of West Texas and New Mexico, and resident of Plainview for the past 60 years, died Monday, Oct. 10, 2005, at Prairie House Living Center in Plainview. She was the last survivor of the 11 children of Alexander Shakespeare Morris and Lillie Grimes Morris, a well-known farm family in the Flomot community of Motley County. Her life spanned almost all the 20th century, and oversaw the transformation from family subsistence farming to today's electronic conveniences and modern equipment. Born near Bowie in Montague County on July 15, 1906, she traveled at 4 months of age with her parents and five older siblings to the territory of New Mexico to homestead 160 acres of prairie grassland at Elida, near Portales, N.M. Moving back and forth from the homestead to Texas by horse-drawn wagon during the required five-year "proving" period, the family lived six months each year in a four-foot deep dugout covered with rough framing and a tarp. Two additional children were born on the homestead before the claim was "proved up" in 1911, six months before New Mexico became the 47th state of the Union. After gaining title to the land, the family returned to Motley County and more hospitable farming conditions. After attending Flomot schools, Dillie Dean Morris married Frank William Garrett on Dec. 24, 1927, in White Flat, Texas, near Matador. The Garrett family had migrated to Motley County in 1924 by way of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and the Oklahoma territory. Frank and Dillie farmed and later owned and operated a general mercantile store serving the Flomot community, before moving to Plainview in 1945 at the close of World War II. Frank Garrett died in 1988 at the age of 82. Dillie Garrett is survived by seven children, 15 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and a sister-in-law. Sons include Calvin Garrett of Hereford, Raby Garrett of Plainview and Joe Garrett of La Quinta, Calif. Her daughters are Shirley Dean of Lubbock, Norma Phinny of Amarillo, Dora McBee of Plainview and Sharon Prutzman of Possum Kingdom Lake. A sister-in-law, Irene Morris of Keller, Texas, also survives. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Grace United Methodist Church in Plainview. Memorial donations may be made to VistaCare Family Hospice, 4418 Olton Road, Plainview, 79072.