Dorothy Lee Reeves Cody

Dorothy Lee Reeves Cody

Marshall - After several years of declining health Dorothy Lee Reeves Cody passed away on May 5, 2020. She had spent the last seven years in the care of the Brian Center in Weaverville, NC. The family thanks all the personnel of the Brian Center for their professional, courteous, and loving care of our mother. The family would also like to make it very clear Dorothy's passing had nothing to do with the current COVID-19 pandemic. It was a natural passing from a life lived well.

With her marriage to Plumer in 1954, "Dot" became a U.S. Air Force wife and, over the first three years of marriage, a mother of two boys. The family served several USAF duty stations: Ogden, Utah; Rolla, Missouri; Greenville and Sumter, South Carolina; and, finally, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Upon separation from the Air Force in 1962, the family returned to the ancestral home of Walnut where they lived on the Reeves homeplace. After Plumer's death in 1996, Dot continued a rich life with family and friends at her home in Walnut and their homes across North and South Carolina, New York, and Michigan.

In addition to working wonders in her Walnut kitchen, she lived a life filled with music. She sang and played the piano at home and in the community. Before she married she often played piano for gospel groups that included Leonard and Billy Payne and her brother Mack, participating in gospel singings around Madison and Buncombe counties and all-night singings at the old Asheville Auditorium. Another early activity was to provide piano accompaniment for the Glee Club at Walnut High School. After returning to the homeplace in '62, she spent many years playing piano for the Walnut Free Will Baptist Church and working with youth choirs, Vacation Bible School, and Christmas plays. She later learned to play the organ to accompany services for the Walnut Presbyterian Church. Dot also sang a beautiful alto in church and in the Madison County Community Choir, including performances for the well-known Madison County Christmas Pageant. Given all this and more, she was probably most widely celebrated as the piano player and alto voice of the Reeves Sisters duet with her sister Ernie. Together they sang at many weddings, funerals, and church services in the community, and in 1995, the Walnut Presbyterian Church recognized them with a $500 donation to Hospice of Madison and a certificate of appreciation for 50 years of music ministry.

Dot was preceded in death by husband Plumer J. Cody; parents Amos Stackhouse ("Stack") Reeves and Charlotta ("Lottie") Barnett Reeves; sisters Leta Reeves Ledford and Evoline Reeves Baker; and Reeves brothers Albert ("Al"), Aubrey ("Doc"), Bill, Harold, Amos Kenneth ("June"), James Dedrick ("JD"), and Joseph MacDonald ("Mack" and "Joe").

She is survived by sons Jerry Cody and wife Cathy of Weaverville, NC, Dr. Michael Cody and wife Leesa of Jonesborough, TN; by grandsons Lane Cody of Durham, NC, and Raleigh Cody of Johnson City, TN; two great-granddaughters Mackenzie and Eden Cody of Durham, NC; grandson-by-marriage Jonathan Morgan and wife Randi Pace of San Jose, CA; last-surviving sibling Ernestine ("Ernie") Reeves Plemmons and husband W. Cloice Plemmons of Walnut, NC; special nephews Joe Plemmons of Weaverville, NC, and Mark Plemmons and wife Kim Rudisill Plemmons of Kingsport, TN; many other nephews, nieces, and cousins scattered across the United States; and sisters-in-law Pansy Cody Wallin of Walnut, NC, Elizabeth ("Betty") Proctor Reeves of Shelby, NC, and Sonia E. Cody of Box Elder, SD.

Due to the pandemic there will be no funeral home visitation or funeral service. Dot will be laid to rest at the side of her husband Plumer, in the veteran's section of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Candler, North Carolina, on Friday, May 8, 2020, at 2:00 PM, with Reverend Patrick Hardy officiating. All are welcome to attend. The family encourages and recommends the use of protective gloves and face masks, as well as the practice of appropriate social distancing. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Walnut Cemetery Fund, PO Box 795, Weaverville, NC 28787.

Dot's family hopes to hold a memorial service sometime in the near future.