Dorothy Ann Morse Owens

   Dorothy Ann Morse Owens, 83, of Hertford, NC, passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Brookdale Senior Living, Elizabeth City, NC where she was surrounded by family.

   Born in the Winslow House in Durants Neck, Perquimans County, on January 10, 1942, Dorothy was the daughter of the late Ernest Earl Morse and Annie Pauline Corbitt Morse Harris. When she was about 12 years old, her parents moved to the Leigh House at Land’s End where she lived on her parents’ farm until graduating high school in 1960. 

   Soon after graduating high school, she moved to Washington, DC and worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a Typist. She married fellow FBI employee and Perquimans native Dickie Owens 1961, started a family, and moved back to Hertford in 1962. She worked in the meat departments of the Colonial Store and Big Star groceries for 8 years and at age 40 was hired as the first woman in North Carolina to work as a Vehicle Enforcement Officer at the Hertford Weigh Station. Later, she became the first woman in North Carolina to be promoted to “Sergeant” in that career, retiring in 2001.

   Dorothy loved to entertain, dance, cook, go camping and travel at every opportunity. She avidly walked for exercise, worked diligently to keep her yard beautiful, and above all things she loved to talk, never knowing a stranger. She traveled to Japan, Hawaii, Washington, Arizona, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Amish Country to spend time with her family and experience new people and places.

   In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her companion of 35 years, Reggie Terry; sisters, Earline Godfrey, Mattie Wray Godfrey, Juanita Byrum, and Faye Nixon; and by a brother, Pete Morse.

   Dorothy is survived by her former husband, Dickie Owens of Elizabeth City; their three sons and their families, Rick and Kim Owens of Clayton, NC (sons, James and Josh); Darryl and Maria Owens of Gig Harbor, WA (daughters, Grace and Sophia); and Stacy and Mary Owens of Hertford (daughters, Michele Riley and Amanda Riley-Herndon [James] and sons, David Riley [Stacey] and Andrew Almodova [Kathy]); 12 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. Also surviving are Reggie’s children, Mike Terry of Moyock, NC (son, Chris); Steve Terry of Bailey, NC (son, Mark); and Sharon Sergeant of Poquoson, VA (husband, Bill and daughter, Kayla).

   Funeral services will be held Monday, May 19, at 11:00 a.m. in Miller & Van Essendelft Funeral Home, 1125 Harvey Point Road, Hertford, and will be conducted by the Rev. Bryant Perry. Entombment will follow in the mausoleum at West Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Elizabeth City. Friends may visit with the family in the funeral home the hour prior to the services on Monday.

   Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.