Mildred Alice Dorr Goodwin's Obituary
Mildred Alice Dorr Goodwin was born on May 8, 1915, on a farm in Panola County, Mississippi, just west of Sardis. Her father, Eugene Lloyd Dorr, farmed and raised cattle, and her mother, Blanche Potts Dorr, was a homemaker and Avon representative. After graduating from high school in Batesville, she enrolled at Wood Junior College in Mathieston, Mississippi, and finished her college education at what was then called Mississippi State College for Women in Columbus. She earned a degree in English and secured a teaching position at Abbeville (Mississippi) High School. It was while living in Abbeville that she met her husband of 52 years, Joe Goodwin. They moved to Memphis after World War II where Mildred stayed busy raising two sons and serving as a substitute teacher in the Memphis Public Schools. She began full time teaching at Kingsbury Junior High and Bellevue Junior High, where she taught English and language arts. She felt great satisfaction in encouraging her students to read, and set up a system where her students could order paperback books at a low cost. She always enjoyed seeing the excitement in her students’ eyes when the shipment of books arrived. After the death of her husband in 1994 and the death of her older son in 1997, she moved to Trezevant Manor, where she stayed active and kept up her love of reading. She was a member of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church for over 60 years, and was a long-time member of the Loyalty Adult Sunday School class. She often said that she “loved every brick of St. Lukes.” She was predeceased by her husband Joe; her sister Ellen Eugenia Dorr Wooten of Collierville; and her older son, William Lloyd. She is survived by her son Steve (Leslie) of Memphis, and two grandchildren, Michael William Goodwin of Atlanta, and Alexander Stephen Goodwin. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m., Thursday, October 20 and funeral services will be 11:30 a.m., Friday, October 21 at Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery.
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