Larry Brunson Morris

Dr. Larry B Morris, 87, of Macon, MS passed away at Elderly Care Center, Macon MS on September 26, 2021.

His funeral service will be held at First Baptist Church of Macon at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 3 with Pastor Steve Galloway officiating. Visitation at the church will follow the funeral service.

Masks are preferred for use during the funeral service and visitation, please. The interment service will be private.

The family requests no flowers, please but that donations and memorials please be made to your local home missions, Dayspring Missions PO Box 7036 Jacksonville, Fla 32238 or to the Annie Armstrong Missions % the North American Missions Board P.O. Box 116543 Atlanta, GA 30368-6543. Cockrell Funeral Home of Macon is honored to be entrusted with the service arrangements.

“Dr. Larry”, as he was lovingly called, was born in Macon, MS at his father’s hospital on August 10, 1934 to Dr. L.B. Morris and Janice Mauldin Morris. Several years after Larry’s mother’s death when he was a young child, his father married Carrie Hibbler Jones. She was a cherished mother to he and his sister. Larry grew up as all small-town town boys did in those times and was involved in all aspects of school life. In junior high school, his cow “Golden Double Lou” won the Senior Champion Female for the All-American Junior Jersey Show in Ohio He lettered in all four sports at Macon High School. Larry’s father was instrumental in the establishment of Noxubee General Hospital in Macon and in the summer of 1951, Larry worked on the construction of the hospital as a carpenter’s helper. Larry went on to graduate from the University of Mississippi where he was a member and senior year Lieutenant Commander of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He also played the clarinet in the Air Force ROTC band. Larry progressed directly on to the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson. Following medical school, he undertook his internship at John Gaston Hospital in Memphis, TN under the auspices of the University of Tennessee Medical School. After his internship, Dr. Larry returned to Macon and joined his father in Morris Clinic. His entrance into practice began in 1960 and, other than a two-year interlude to serve his country as an Air Force physician, Dr. Larry continued to practice medicine until his retirement in January 2013. After the death of his father, Dr. Larry began a solo practice with Morris Clinic being located inside the Noxubee General Hospital main building until he built a separate building next door. He sold his practice in 1999 and joined Macon Primary Care Clinic in 2003. Dr. Larry served one year of the Family Practice Department at University Medical Center in the extension program. He also served as the Medical Director of the Noxubee County Nursing Home and also of the Physical Therapy Department. Dr. Larry was the team physician for the famous Coach Bull Sullivan and later for Coach A.J. Kilpatrick at East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba, MS. For many years, he provided sports physicals for athletes of both Noxubee High School and Central Academy, where he also coached tennis. Dr. Larry was one of the “Old School Physicians” and was renowned for his conscientiousness and concern for all of his patients. This love for his patients resulted in his being given many gifts from the gardens, fields and many other sorts of blessings by his grateful patients. Some of Dr. Larry’s greatest gifts to his patients was his ability to be non-judgmental and discreet. He had myriads of patients from all walks of life ranging from those with modest means to those who were very financially fortunate or famous. Each one was equally very special to him. Among his patients over the years were two famous blues singers: Willie Earl King, who brought Dr. Larry gifts from London, England and Big Joe Williams, who incorporated Dr. Larry into one of his songs:” Sugar Diabetes Blues”. Dr. Larry also had many famous athletes as patients, some from birth or early childhood on. The current head basketball coach for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology basketball team was named “Larry” after Dr. Larry, as were many others. Dr. Larry had an amazing gift of humility coupled with a strong sense of confidence, which had a calming and reassuring effect on his patients. He usually became an integral part of his patient’s personal lives. It was not uncommon for Dr. Larry to treat a patient after hours or on the weekend in his own kitchen at his home and there are many families in the Noxubee County area of which Dr. Larry has treated four or five generations. There was never any question of which doctor was being spoken of when a patient remarked that he or she was going to “see the doctor”. It was always Dr. Larry. Dr. Larry was an avid Ole Miss fan who followed them faithfully all over the country. He was also an avid hunter to the point of taking off each Thursday afternoon during quail season to hunt) and loved being with his sons and friends on many hunts shared together. His other passions were tennis and snow skiing. Dr. Larry was a faithful and longtime member of First Baptist Church of Macon where he served as a Deacon and sang in the choir. Dr. Larry was preceded in death by his father, his mothers, his sister Janice Hutchins, and by his eldest son Bryan Morris. He is survived by his beloved wife of fifty-two years, Ibby Morris and his sons: Wiley Karen Morris of Oxford, MS and Milton (Marley) Morris of New Orleans, LA as well as his grandchildren” Lucy ‘Belle, Wyatt, Brunson, Lily, and Mauldin.