Dara Dee Burris

Dora Dee Hensley Burris went home to be with Jesus on March 19, 2013, at the age of 101.

Dora was born February 9, 1912 to Paris and Effie Hensley in Pearland, Texas. Their family moved to McLoud, Oklahoma where she grew up, married and had four children. Later, Dora moved to Oregon (by way of Los Angeles) where she lived on a large, wooded ranch outside of Eugene. Her favorite thing was walking through the woods to look at the wildflowers, especially the Lady Slipper which only grew on one moist mountainside.

In 1951, Dora moved to Orland, California where she married Clarence "Buster" Burris. She continued to be very active growing flowers, large gardens, and canning almost all of her vegetables and fruits. When Buster passed away in 1955, she began working on the original T.M. Duché belt crew to support herself. She worked there for 20 years before retiring to a small mobile home on her son's property out in the country. She was quite handy with a hammer. Occasionally, her son would catch her re-doing or adding onto her little mobile home doing most of the work herself.

Dora was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Orland. She could often be found helping in the kitchen, sewing quilts for missions, or driving friends to church until a broken hip forced her to slow down.

Dora is survived by son, Al Smith (Inge) of Palo Cedro, CA; son, Dave Smith of Orland, CA; eight grandchildren; many great and great-great grandchildren. She was part of several five generation family pictures which will be treasured pieces of her legacy. Two children predeceased Dora: her son Delford died at the age of six months and her daughter Norma Lane, who passed away at the age of 43.

A Memorial Service will be held at the First Baptist Church, 903 1st Street, Orland, CA on Friday, April 5, 2013 at 3:00 p.m.