"I remember looking forward to talking with Dot,and sharing our love of saying the rosary,she will be in my thoughts each and everytime,I say it. I know my family and myself enjoyed her homemade banana pudding at barbeques,on holidays and at various family gatherings. I will miss you ever so much Dot,I feel so blessed to have known you ?"
In loving memory of
Dorothy Christine McRill
March 13, 1930 - March 20, 2023
Dorothy C. McRill, 93
Dorothy C. "Dot" McRill, 93, formerly of Grosse Pointe Woods and Sterling Heights, died peacefully in her sleep March 20, 2023, at Pomeroy Living - Sterling Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation.
Dorothy was born March 13,1930, to Charles and Mary (Vessels) Garnett in Paducah, Ky. For a short time following the death of her father when she was 13 years old, she was raised by nuns in an orphanage in Vincennes, Ind., and remained a devoted Catholic all her life.
The family reunited and at the age of 14 Dorothy, her mother and siblings moved to Detroit to be near extended family. As a young adult, she worked in the Hudson Department Store cafeteria. She met her husband, Richard McRill, at the former Roosevelt Lounge, a popular country music bar on Mack Avenue on Detroit's eastside. They married on May 8, 1954 in Detroit and enjoyed 57 years together before his death in 2011.
After briefly moving to California, Dorothy and Richard returned to Michigan, settling in Roseville, where they raised their two daughters, Terry and Kristine.
A member of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Dorothy enjoyed attending Mass and the weekly outdoor Rosary sessions in the summer.
Besides listening to country music, Dorothy enjoyed watching the Detroit Tigers, "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Matlock." A homemaker, she loved ironing, washing dishes and scorned the dishwasher. Her favorite pastimes were praying the Rosary, scratching lottery tickets and playing keno at the casino. She was devoted to her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She had a quick wit and great sense of humor.
She was predeceased by her parents; husband; brothers Joseph, Eugene, Charles, William, James and sister, JoAnn. She is survived by her daughters Terry (John) Minnis and Kristine (Walter) Beaver; granddaughters, Lauren (Corey) McGregor and Lindsay (Benjamin) Demsky and grandson, Matthew (Kristen) Beaver; and great-grandchildren Graham, Ben, Maggie and Noah; brothers John and Edward and many nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 15, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 467 Fairford, Grosse Pointe Woods. Family will greet guests 9-10 a.m. prior to Mass.
She will be laid to rest at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township.
Arrangements were made by Chas. Verheyden Funeral Homes Inc.
The family would like to thank the Pomeroy Sterling staff and administrators for their kind and professional care of Dorothy during her time at their facility.
Tributes
"I have so many memories of my cousins. So much time was spent at their home. Many weekends when my parents left me there. But when they came to pick me up, Terry and I would scheme ways to keep me there longer. It was never long enough. Dot was always busy. She loved her family. I will miss her laugh. God bless."
"She was the sweetest aunt anybody could ever have. I lived with her & my uncle for a short while as a child & I remember that my aunt wore bobby-socks, which I thought was so cool! I was blessed to join my aunt, along with my cousin Terry & her husband on a road trip to Kentucky in August of 2012. What a fun time we had that I will never forget. I will miss my aunt Dot?s version of happy birthday that she would sing to me every birthday. I love you aunt Dot. "