TERREBONNE and LAFOURCHE Parishes, La.

OBITUARIY for CHITTY, DORRIS (LEMMON)  
  
Submitted by: Louis Lavedan

Published in Houma Today & The Daily Comet from May 5 to May 6, 2014

Died: Saturday, May 3, 2014

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CHITTY, DORRIS (LEMMON)  

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Dorris Christina Lemmon Chitty, 92, a longtime resident of Houma, passed away 
at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, May 3, 2014, at Heritage Manor Stratmore Nursing and 
Rehabilitation Center in Shreveport. 

Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Myers-Colonial Funeral Home in 
DeRidder. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of Christ 
in DeRidder, 

with burial in Woodlawn Cemetery. 

She is survived by her children, Charolette Crawford and husband, Joe, of 
Houma, Donna Joppie and husband, Rick, of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, Darrell Chitty 
and wife, Nona, of Bossier City, Leah Walton of Searcy, Arkansas, Gary Chitty 
and wife, Susie, of Spring, Texas, JaNiece Cefalu and husband, Joe, of 
Nacogdoches, Texas, and Randy Chitty and wife, Suzanne, of Spring, Texas; 16 
grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren. 

She was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Jessie Leonard Chitty; 
granddaughter, Hope Renee Bailey; brother, Clarence Melvin Lemmon; and parents, 
John Hickmon Lemmon and Emma Frances Haley Lemmon. 

Dorris was born Dec. 10, 1921, in Rocky, Washita County, Oklahoma. She lived in 
Oklahoma and Texas until 1939, when she and her family moved to a rural area of 
Beauregard Parish, Louisiana. 
On July 28, 1940, she married Jessie Leonard Chitty in DeRidder. Three of their 
seven children were born in DeRidder. 
In April of 1947, Leonard and Dorris moved their family to Houma, where they 
lived for many years. Four more children would be born to them there. 
During their time in Houma, they co-owned and operated several businesses 
including Leonard's Mattress Works and Upholstery Shop, Tideland Towing, and 
Tideland Oil Transportation. 
Almost immediately upon arriving in Houma in 1947, Leonard and Dorris began 
working to establish a congregation of the Church of Christ in Houma. In 1949, 
they helped to get the funding and oversaw the building of the first meeting 
hall for the congregation. By 1960, the congregation had grown so large that a 
much bigger church building was needed. They were deeply involved in getting 
that larger meeting place built also. It is still used as the meeting place of 
the Hollywood Road Church of Christ to this day. Leonard and Dorris remained 
steadfast in their work with the church as long as they were physically able. 
Throughout his lifetime, Leonard dealt valiantly with a form of muscular 
dystrophy that caused him many major health problems. Dorris was his caregiver 
until his death in May of 1999. Even in his final days, when his problems 
became so acute that he had to enter a nursing home, Dorris was at his side 
almost constantly. 
After Leonard's death, Dorris lived with her daughter and son-in-law, JaNiece 
and Joe Cefalu, in Nacogdoches, Texas, until she developed dementia problems 
that required close monitoring, both day and night. She moved into an assisted 
living facility in Nacogdoches, Texas, for a while. In 2010, she was moved to a 
facility better suited to meet her needs that was located in Bossier City, near 
her son, Darrell, and his wife, Nona. The following year, she went into the 
Heritage Manor Stratmore Center in Shreveport because, by then, her dementia 
had developed into Alzheimer's and this facility was better equipped to care 
for her. Darrell and Nona kept close watch over her during the years she was in 
northern Louisiana. Other family members came as frequently as they could to 
visit with Dorris until she passed away on May 3 of this year. 
Dorris Lemmon Chitty was a kind, gentle, and generous Christian lady who was 
greatly loved by her family and many others also. 
She will be greatly missed by all of them. 

Myers-Colonial Funeral Home in DeRidder is in charge of arrangements. 

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