55-Year Marriage Ends as Wife, High School Sweetheart Is Fatally Shot in Tucson Rampage

Jan. 10, 2010 — -- Married for more than 55 years, Dorothy and George Morris were seldom apart.

And it was no different Saturday, when the high school sweethearts attended Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' meet-and-greet event at a Safeway grocery story in Tucson, Ariz.

The gunfire sprayed into the weekend crowd was most likely the first thing to split up the couple in decades, their friends say.

While she is believed to be one of the first people to die at the scene, her husband and "soulmate" is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds and is expected to survive, according to Bill Royle, a childhood friend of the couple.

"Their relationship was like they just got married yesterday," Royle said. "Years later, he still called her 'his sweetheart.'

"They were soulmates," Royle added. "They were together all the time. Everything they did, they did together."

George Morris, a retired United Airlines pilot, and Dorothy -- or "Dot," as she was nicknamed -- first started dating at Reno High School in Tucson and have been together ever since. They have two daughters, and she was a stay-at-home mom.

Bonnie Royle, one of her best friends, recalled that Dorothy Morris loved to cook and entertain.

"She cared about people and was very compassionate and loving," Royle said.

George Morris knows his wife did not survive the shooting and is trying to "stay strong" for the couple's daughters, according to the Royles, who're married.

"I'm not sure how he'll move forward, but he will," Bonnie Royle said.

Also caught in the crossfire of Saturday's shooting were Dorwan Stoddard and wife Mavy Stoddard, who hit the ground trying to save themselves from the gunman's frenzy.

"He did what any loving husband would do, dive on a grenade for his wife," Michael Nowak, a pastor at Mountain Avenue Church of Christ in Tucson and a friend of the couple, said.

Dorwan Stoddard, 76, lay on top of his wife, protecting her from the torrent of bullets. Mavy Stoddard thought her husband was hurting her by lying on top of her, not realizing that she'd been shot three times in the legs, Nowak said.

Dorwan Stoddard was fatally wounded, dying at the scene of the mass shooting that has left six dead and 14 injured.

The two had known each other all their lives but had only fallen in love 15 years ago after each had lost their spouses, Nowak said. Now Mavy Stoddard is preparing to bury a husband for the second time.

"It's a shock," Nowak said. "She has moments of breakdown, but is always positive that he's in heaven. When she comes to church here next week, it's really going to hit her very hard."

The Stoddards are an integral part of the 140-member congregation at Mountain Avenue. Dorwan Stoddard volunteered as the head of the benevolence ministry and the maintenance ministry.

"He was a teddy bear, he didn't have a mean bone in him," Nowak said. "He couldn't say no to anybody inside the church, outside the church. ... He was always reaching into his wallet to give people money."

The retired construction worker had a history of heart attacks but didn't let his health stop him. He was known to drive his truck to help people move.

At church services on Sunday, the congregation remembered Dorwan Stoddard and prayed for Mavy Stoddard's health. She is still in the hospital, Nowak said.

Church members also prayed for the other dead victims: John Roll, Gabriel Zimmerman, Phyllis Schneck, Dorothy Morris and Christina-Taylor Green.