Dorothy L. Morgan

Dorothy was born to Damon and Mildred Rice in Austin, Texas on November 27, 1933, and went home to be with her Lord on December 4, 2021 also in Austin, Texas just one week after she turned 88.

Dorothy was the middle child of ten children - Eunice, Richard, Agnes, Mary, Bobbie, Raymond, Joyce, Virgil, and Donnie. She was truly a miracle baby and survivor. She was born premature at home weighing less than two pounds. The doctor said she would not survive more than 48 hours so no birth certificate was generated. Her dad took his 8 1/2 size shoe box and converted it into a crib for her. Her incubator was an old wood burning stove. Her birth certificate was finally issued just before she began elementary school.

Dorothy and her sister Mary married brothers, Robert and David Knapp when they were both teenagers. Dorothy married her Robert on Ground Hog Day, 1951. Together over the next 15 years they had six healthy children, two beautiful girls and four robust boys.

Her life embodied “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Galatians 6:9 and 2 Corinthians 4:16 Her life was never easy but always full. Her husband, Robert, was injured at work and left paralyzed from the waist down when her children were 12 years and younger. She was left to raise them virtually alone and she did exactly that with limited resources and hard work. She was a creative cook and always provided food on the table for those six children to scarf up. Our favorite was the most delicious flour tortillas she skillfully rolled out using a wine bottle. This technique, she learned from a neighbor friend in East Austin. She would make them by the dozens and her kids enjoyed them mostly as fast as she could make them. Dorothy was also multi jointed. She entertained her kids by performing a standing backbend and retrieving a handkerchief from between her feet.

Dorothy married Tom Morgan nearly 40 years after the death of her first husband, Robert. They enjoyed a good number of years together until his death on June 1, 2017.

Dorothy loved her family and enjoyed her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her last few months she was entertained by and entertained her youngest great grandchild, Clyde Harrell. Her laughter always filled the room and all the hearts she graced with her presence.

Dorothy is survived by her six children - Judy Harrell of Austin, Texas; Andy Knapp of Round Rock, Texas; Robert Knapp, Jr. of Crossville, Tennessee; Russell Knapp of Grapeland, Texas; Franklyn Knapp of Austin, Texas; and Carol Callahan of Austin, Texas; their families which include more than 40 grand and great grandchildren; her sisters, Mary Blackmon, Bobbie Sanford, Joyce Ditmann; and her brothers Raymond and Donnie Rice. She is preceded in death by her mother and father, Mildred and Damon Rice, her sisters Eunice Rice and Agnes McFarland, her brothers Virgil and Richard Rice, her husband and father of her six children, Robert Knapp, and her loving husband and life partner Tom Morgan.

Funeral Services will be held at the Central Texas State Veteran Cemetery on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, at 1:00 p.m., 11463 State Highway 195, Killeen, Texas 76542.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com for the Morgan family.