x
Breaking News
More () »

Family shares lessons learned from couple who died six days apart after 66 years of marriage

Dorothy and Morris Pettey became best friends as children, and their kids say they had the 'perfect ending to their love story.'

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Even a fairy tale love story has an ending.

One North Little Rock couple spent more almost all their nine decades together and then passed away just a few days apart.

Dorothy and Morris Pettey were married for 66 years. Dorothy Pettey died on October 12, and Morris Pettey died on October 18.

“Their marriage and partnership that they had, and it was definitely a true partnership,” their son, Mike Pettey, said. “I mean, they complimented each other on what one was strong on.”

The Petteys met when they were children, growing up in Hazen. Mike Pettey fondly speaks of a photo showing them when Morris was 13 and Dorothy was 11. “and he was visiting on his horse, Gip,” Mike explained. “So, they were best friends for years and years and years before they ever got married.”

Mike said they had an on-again, off-again romance as teenagers. “One of my mother’s favorite stories,” he said, “is that my dad grew up around the corner from my mother. And so, when he would go visit, he would ride the horse there, to her house, and tie up the horse. And he would walk her to school, or he would go there to just visit my mom.

“And so, inevitably, they would break up. And so, my dad would want to go to the store—which was past my mother’s house—and the horse was used to stopping. So, whenever he’d get to the front of the house, he would just pitch a fit and would try to buck dad off and everything else, because he was ready to stop. He didn’t want to go any further. So, my mother could sit on the front porch and laugh at my dad, with the horse throwing a fit in the middle of the road out in front of her house.”

Morris Pettey joined the military to fight in the Korean War. Mike Pettey said his parents sent love letters back and forth across the ocean, and that is when they became more serious about their relationship.

“If he got back on January the 20th, they were married five days later,” their daughter, Janis Huey, said.

The Petteys moved to Detroit for a brief time, looking for work. Morris’ brother had married Dorothy’s sister, and the four of them moved to Michigan together, but Morris and Dorothy missed Arkansas too much and returned home. They settled in North Little Rock with their three children: Mike, Dorothy, and Ronald (who now lives in Alabama).

“She was a very loving mother,” Huey said of her mom. “She was also pretty determined. There were things in her life that she wanted to accomplish, and she made sure that she did them, no matter the obstacles.”

Mike Pettey recalled Morris Pettey as a man who had several different careers and worked hard to provide for his family.

“You know, he owned his own gas station at one time,” Mike Pettey recalled, “which was one of my first jobs, was going to work at 13 or 14 years old at a gas station. And that’s where I started getting my life experience in dealing with people, customers and that kind of thing.”

“One of our funny inside jokes,” he added, “is: Dad never liked to stop when we went on our family vacations, and so, we’d be in the back of the old station wagon going, ‘dad, let’s stop there… dad, let’s stop there…”

Mike Pettey said his mother got jobs at his schools or worked from home to be there when her kids returned. He said both his parents always worked together to make sure their children had what they needed, and that their relationship influenced him greatly.

“It definitely gives you something to strive for,” he said, “and you can’t ask for a better example of, because I mean, my whole life, growing up, I can count on about three fingers the times I heard kind of crosswords.”

“So much so that I think we took it for granted,” Huey agreed, “that that was the way things were for everyone.”

In addition to the gas station, Morris Pettey worked at a rental car agency and as a security guard. He was also a pastor and filled in at churches around Central Arkansas that could not afford a full-time pastor.

“He volunteered at the North Little Rock courthouse, right down the road, under Judge Hamilton,” Mike Pettey added. “And he worked in there as like a clerk’s assistant, and he helped counsel people that went through the court system. And he did that for how many years? Twelve? Fourteen? Fourteen years that he did that. And while he was there, he got, he was named the Volunteer of the Year by the City of North Little Rock twice.”

Dorothy worked at Baptist Health for several years. But Huey said she spent much of her time writing a pair of family histories, one for her side of the family and one for Morris’. Huey said she visited county courthouses and cemeteries to track down the information that would go into her books, which she gave to every relative who wanted a copy.

Huey said Dorothy had a rare determination. It manifested itself in education. She encouraged her daughter to finish college, in part because public education in Hazen when she grew up ended at eighth grade. “My dad was perfectly happy with that,” Huey mentioned, “but Mother, it bothered her whole life that she didn’t get to finish, and so she got her GED at age 61.”

When they retired, they stayed active. Going out to eat was a favorite activity, and Pig ‘N Chik BBQ became a home away from home.

“And even later on,” Huey stated, “when people would come in like, (physical) therapists and stuff he’d always talk about it, like, ‘oh, I have a coupon!’”

“But it was their Thursday date, that they went on every Thursday,” Mike Pettey added. “Soon, people found out about their Thursday dates, and you could join in and get your lunch bought for you. So, there was usually somebody along with them on their Thursday dates.”

With more time on their hands, the Thursday dates expanded to multiple days a week. David Huey, Janis’ husband, said food and family were staples of the Pettey family. “As soon as I was in the family—once Janis and I got married— (they) always had get-togethers and birthday parties and things of that nature,” he said. “And that’s the way—I grew up that way, and that’s the way they accepted that. That’s the best way to have.”

Dona Pettey, Mike’s wife, said that the moment she met them, “they took me in. Took me in and treated me like I was one of their own. Always said they loved me, always had a hug, and always had some kind of something funny to say that always makes everything feel good. Just really great people.”

Dorothy’s health began to slip first. She suffered from dementia and had an incident with an irregular heartbeat in April. Morris had a bad fall in July, and they ended up needing to move to a nursing home. They managed to stay together and share a room. Janis Huey said dementia brought out a sassier side of her mother, while Mike Pettey said their father wanted to stay busy.

“We’d get tickled,” he said with a laugh, “because he’d complain that the staff there--they’re supposed to come in and make their beds, and he’d get up and make the bed. And he goes, ‘well, they don’t make the bed.’ And I’m like, ‘you’re making the bed!’”

For all the time Morris and Dorothy were able to spend together, they would ultimately have to part. When Dorothy passed away, her husband knew his time was coming, too.

“I could see that he was just not feeling well,” Huey recalled. “And he said he just didn’t think he was going to make it through the day. I didn’t realize how literal that was, Wednesday.”

“Because,” her brother added, “at her funeral, after that he lasted a day and a half.

“But it was a perfect ending to their love story,” Mike Pettey said. “I mean, you hate to see anybody go, but they had said that they would prefer to go at the same time. And, after 80 years of knowing each other, to quote my sister, close enough.”

“Absolutely,” Huey said. “Six days. Sixty-six years of marriage and six days apart.”

While they planned another funeral, Mike, Dona, Janis, and David sat around a table, sharing stories about family vacations, embarrassing birthday parties, and the kindness Dorothy and Morris Pettey always displayed. The loss of two parents in succession is traumatic enough to break some families, but the Pettey children were already planning the next family get-together.

“And that, I hope, is really going to be an ongoing thing,’ Janis Huey said. “Because that’s what we’ve got now: we’ve got memories. We’ll make a few more of our own, but that’s what we’ve got of our parents, are those lovely memories.”

Visitation for Morris Pettey will be Tuesday morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Smith North Little Rock Funeral Home. He will then be buried next to Dorothy in Hazen.

RELATED: Caregivers often neglect own needs, but here's how you can help

RELATED: Watch the touching moment this football player stunned his step-father by changing his last name

Before You Leave, Check This Out