On Saturday, Jan. 30, our beloved grandmother, the matriarch of this particular Dorsey family, was called home by our Heavenly Father. Bam, as we affectionately call her, took a piece of each of our hearts with her and she is sorely missed. We loved and cherished her dearly, and quite frankly she was the best “Bam”ever. We are happy that she is truly home, but our world just doesn’t feel quite the same without her in it.
She was a true Southern belle, a farm girl originally from Ozark, Al turned teacher by the tutelage of Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Fortunately for this writer, she landed in Opelika on the arm of the late David Dorsey Sr (affectionately known to us as Papa).
Anecdotes, jokes, and general tom-foolery have been known to flow rather abundantly around the Dorsey dinner table, and on one of her first dates with Papa to meet family for Sunday dinner, Bam quipped “y’all are going to have to hire a listener”. Papa was smitten, as was the rest of the family, and she would become the matron of one of the sweetest love stories we ever witnessed.
We’d meet her in later years, the “granchillen” as Papa would call us. We initially called her “Gram” in our failed attempts to say “grandma”, and I am not sure when or how the metamorphosis occurred to “Bam”. At any rate, no ordinary moniker was fitting for such an exceptional grandmother and she was crowned “Bam”.
Bam loved us like no other earthly being, and the love she gave us was Christ-like. We were completely undeserving and could offer little in return, but her love was unfaltering. She was always there for us, and was our best cheerleader.
You could taste that love in the chicken salad, ambrosia, brunswick stew, corn bread, cornbread dressing, salmon croquettes, hoe cakes, and cucumber salad she made, and we often felt her love in the form of her service, devotion, and commitment to our family.
Like her namesake in Exodus, Miriam, our “Bam” was steadfast, observant, and active in nurturing and caring for all of her “chillen and granchillen”. She took us shopping for school clothes, supplies, registered us for classes, rooted us on from the stands at our sporting events, and took us to Sunday school most Sundays. She indulged us with an occasional Oreo cookie, or ten.
I peek around the corner of the old family house on 8th street, and still think I may find her polishing her silver, or watching Andy Griffith or Lawrence Welk from her favorite chair. I am filled with the cherished memories of a love lost, but not gone forever, and I am reminded of God’s faithfulness. Ultimately, his righteousness will prevail and we will see our sweet Bam again. Death has lost its sting, as the saying goes, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t ache a little bit. We Love you, Bam, and we are okay. Please rest easy.
Love Always,
Dallas Jr, Starr, Whitt, Anna Laura, Kate