Do(e), is Missy Outside?!?

Dorice Josephine Glascoe Wright, E.D. 

Dorice fought it but ultimately, cancer won. I saw Dorice less frequently than almost all of my cousins. She and her brother are longtime Northeasterners, Dorice in the Boston area and her brother, Lewis, in New York which are places very far away from me. Not until I started going to family reunions as an adult did I have any significant contact with either of them and at that point it was only every two years until Dorice and I exchanged email addresses. At that point we started to write quite a bit.

My most recent memories are that Dorice was my family's most diligent but disorganized family historian. She knew the people and places of family long gone but her document archives were scatter-shot at best - it really is a family trait. This info was to be included in her perpetually under-construction and unpublished memoir. We talked about family and genealogy and we talked lots about jazz. She was clued into parts of the Boston music scene I never was familiar with but she spoke with intimacy and enthusiasm.

The memory that stands out the most is a story passed down to me from my own personal history. A story that sounds probable but one that took place when I was so young that I don't remember it. Dorice came to Nashville to visit my mother and me and at some point while staying with us I exclaimed - in a voice I have learned from Julia that only two or three year olds can muster - Do, is Missy outside? Why such a simple phrase stuck like it did I couldn't understand until Julia started blurting out these very mature sounding statements and questions and so now, I get it. Missy was our dog and because I have heard Julia ask something very similar I can easily see myself asking Dorice (Do) if Missy was outside. Something like Julia asking "Suse, is Johnders outside?"

Dorice, we will miss you. I know 'Trane, Althea, Marvin and as well as Lena (Bell Wright), Eatonton (Wright) and all the ancestors are waiting for you, while we will forever tell your stories.