Elise Brown Morris, born in Sparta, Tennessee, on Jan. 20, 1926, passed away peacefully at her home, on Oct. 27, 2024. She was the daughter of John Hobson Brown and Cindy Ann Bennett Brown.
Mrs. Morris graduated from White County High School, in 1945. She attended Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (TPI), which is now Tennessee Technological University, where she earned a teaching certificate. She taught elementary school at Cole’s Chapel, Almyra, and Black Oak elementary schools.
Mrs. Morris was a lifetime member of First Baptist Church in Sparta and was a former member of Pistole Baptist Church, which was the church she grew up attending.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Luther Brock Morris, and their son, Luther Leon Morris, known to many as Luke; her sisters and brothers-in-law: Gladys Brown Carter (Lloyd W.); Enzena Brown Pierce (Thomas R.); Mae Brown McBride Howell (Jack and Richard); Jewel Brown Buck (Col. (Ret)) Robert H. Buck and twin brothers Perry and Paris Brown; brother and sister-in-law John H. Brown (Lois Lavern); and nieces Carolyn Carter Kimsey, Susan Pierce Duncan and Linda McBride Pace. They are all gone now but their legacy lives on in the differences they made in our lives and the images they left in our memories.
Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Karen Morris Cooper and Charles Robert Cooper, along with their son Brock Cooper, who is Mrs. Morris’s only grandchild, all of Sparta. Surviving nieces and nephews include Margaret Carter Spiron (Charlie), of Goldsboro, North Carolina, Angeli Buck Swallows (Paul), of Cookeville; Robert Brown Buck, of Smyrna; Portia Brown Prater, of Smithville; Arrie Ann Pierce Fuqua, of Madison; and the McBride Brothers Jack (Nancy), John and Jim, of Michigan. Special niece Elizabeth Morris Powell (Dr. Joseph R.) of Rossville, TN.
Funeral service was 3 p.m., Oct. 30, 2024, at Hunter Funeral Home, with burial in Old Zion Cemetery. Brad Walker and Doug Benningfield officiated.
Brock Cooper, Barry Kimsey, Robert Brown Buck, Mark Bandy, Denny Wayne Robinson, and Dr. Joseph R. Powell served the family as pallbearers.
Honorary pallbearers were Henry Foster and H. Buck Brown.
Memorial donations may be made to Old Zion Cemetery or First Baptist Church Loaves and Fishes food program, or a charity of your choice.
Hunter Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
