Longtime resident surprised with birthday parade

Anna Dorris was surprised by a bouquet of flowers Friday for her 90th birthday. Then she got an even bigger one.

Family and friends drove past her Delano Street house as a parade of honking cars decorated with ‘happy birthday’ signs and balloons.

“Very much so,” Dorris said of the surprise visit. “Even the bouquet I got from my daughter in Springfield surprised me.”

The parade featured just a fraction of her family that includes five daughters, nine grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and 22 great-great grandchildren.

Dorris was born in Poplar Bluff and lives in the home once owned by her grandmother. After working in the local garment factory, Dorris has been a seamstress doing alterations and making quilts for many years as well as doing upholstery work with her husband.

Anna Dorris points as friends and family drive past her home to celebrate her 90th birthday Friday.DAR/Brian Rosener

“She’s the best seamstress around,” said Don Robertson, whose wife Betty started organizing the parade for her friend.

Betty Robertson said they’ve been friends going on 16 years and got the idea for a parade after seeing others do it as people social distance due to COVID-19.

During the coronavirus pandemic Dorris said she’s been recovering from surgery.

“I’m like an old dog,” she said, “when I’m hurt, just leave me alone.”

Dorris’ daughter, Sharon Haley, works in home health so to be cautious she would only come to the door when dropping off anything her mother needed.

“Now, I sit on one side of the room and she sits on the other,” Haley said.

After two laps around the block and past the house, everybody stopped to drop off cards and gifts. Everyone wrote well wishes on a sign that read “Happy Birthday Mom, you’re only 90.”

Said Dorris, “I’ve been working towards it.”

Betty Robertson, right, signs a poster for her friend Anna Dorris who is celebrating her 90th birthday Friday. Robertson helped organize a parade with friends and family for Dorris.DAR/Brian Rosener