Olive H. Dorr

1927 - 2025

Olive H. Dorr

Rye, NH - Olive "Ollie" Hadley Dorr, 97, passed away peacefully after a brief illness at Benchmark's memory care facility in Rye, NH on January 3, 2025.

Born Olive Rebecca McMorran on January 28, 1927 in Lincoln, New Hampshire, to Henry T. McMorran and Mary (Towers) McMorran. She was the salutatorian of her class and graduated from Lincoln High School (Lincoln, NH) in 1945. She continued her education at Keene Teachers College and graduated in 1949. Ollie moved to Claremont, NH where she taught 3rd grade at Way School.

It was in Claremont where she met her first husband, Richard A. Hadley. They married in 1951 and together, had three children,. While living in Claremont, Ollie was a member of the Ladies Union Aid Society of the Valley Regional Hospital and Vice President, a member of the Board of Trustees of Claremont General Hospital and Treasurer. She was also a member of the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority and president of the Council Charter of the Claremont Choral Society. Upon the death of her husband, she became president of Hadley Building Supplies, Inc. and ran the 3 locations with her son Steve for 6 years before selling them in 1982.

In 1977, Ollie married George A. Dorr of Goshen, NH. She met George while they were members of the choir at the South Congregational Church in Newport, NH. Ollie was a very active member of the Church, and the Newport Service Organization where she had served as president for one year.

During her life, Ollie enjoyed many activities. Her favorite was singing. In Lincoln, she started singing in her church choir along with her 5 sisters. (They were the choir!) She was a gifted soprano who yearned to study music at the Boston Conservatory. She instead followed a classmate to Keene Teachers College where she sang in the chorus and soloed in concerts. After graduating with a degree in Education, she moved to Claremont and continued to sing in the Claremont choral Society and then in the Newport Area Choir.

Ollie also loved to travel. She spent time traveling the Caribbean and Japan with her husband Richard, and venturing across the U.S. and Canada in an RV and traveling throughout Europe and five times to New Zealand (her favorite place) with her husband, George. She loved taking walking tours through England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland with family and friends. She also had the pleasure of working with students in different countries when George volunteered his time to the International Executive Service Corp. as a consultant to woolen mills in Uruguay, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Russia, and Estonia. While George was consulting, Ollie would visit the local schools and participate in English classes. She also taught English to the adult women working in the mills in Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

In her later years Ollie picked up the hobby of quilting and made some beautiful quilts that were on display at the Newport Library Arts Center and others that adorn many of her children's, grandchildren's and great grandchildren's beds to this day. Ollie was always looking for ways to keep active and stay happy.

One of Ollie's loves was the Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO), an organization founded in 1869 that raises money to help women finish college. She was a 30+ year member and past president of PEO's state chapter.

Ollie had a wonderful disposition and fantastic sense of humor that she shared with everyone she met and surrounded herself with great friends in the communities where she lived. She cherished both her immediate and extended families and enjoyed family gatherings during the holidays.

Ollie is pre-deceased by her sisters Francis Bruni of Wilmington, DE, Gertrude McDowell of Sioux Falls, SD, Irene Udinski of Wilmington, DE, Esther Mann of Sudbury, MA, Mary Giancola of Rochester, NY and her brother Philip McMorran of Lincoln, NH, her first husband, Richard A. Hadley of Claremont, NH, second husband, George A. Dorr, Jr. of Goshen, NH, son Steven D. Hadley of Marietta, GA, daughter-in-law Alice Ouellette of Marietta, GA, and son-in-law William Foley of South Hamilton, MA.

Ollie leaves behind her daughter Martha Foley of South Hamilton, MA, son Dana Hadley (Ruth) of Newmarket, NH, daughter-in-law Susan Hadley of Marietta, GA, stepson Terry (Paula) Dorr of Grantham, NH, stepson Christopher (Karen) of Winston-Salem, NC, and stepdaughter Kathy (Dorr - Steven) Hock of Crested Butte, CO. She also leaves behind 15 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at the South Congregational Church located on Church Street in Newport, NH on Saturday, January 25th at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the South Congregational Church, 20 Church St. Newport, NH 03773, c/o Tracey Bailey or to the Newport Library Arts Center, 58 N. Main St. Newport, NH 03773.

Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home is assisting with arrangements. Condolences may be left on www.newtonbartlett.com