Elizabeth “Betty Jean/BJ” Jean Payne Dorris, a native of Clarksdale, Mississippi, recent resident of Spanish Fort, Alabama, and longtime resident of Brandon Mississippi, Winona Mississippi, and Greenwood Mississippi, passed away on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at the age of 89.

BJ was a kindergarten teacher in Greenwood, MS and Winona, MS, and later a church secretary for St. Stephens Church in Flowood, MS. She was a member of Lakeside Presbyterian Church prior to moving to Spanish Fort, AL. Betty loved to travel and saw much of the world with her husband of over 60 years, Jimmy, whom she met while working for the Social Security Administration in Greenwood, Mississippi.  She was an accomplished artist with a gift for portraiture.  Over the course of her life, she explored pastels, watercolors, and oil painting.  BJ participated in many local art shows winning numerous awards. Friends and family commissioned hundreds of portraits from her of their loved ones over the years.

BJ was preceded in death by her mother, Evalyn Jones Payne; her father, James Hamilton Payne; and her husband, James Franklin Dorris.

She is survived by her children, James “Jay” Dorris, Jr., and his wife, Jennifer Dorris, John Dorris, and his wife Denise Arial Dorris, and Elizabeth Dorris Payne, and her husband Jason Payne; her grandchildren, Michael Payne, Lucy Payne, Anna Dorris, Jackson Dorris, James Dorris III, and Evalyn Dorris; and her siblings, James (Jimmy) Payne and Lucy Payne Tharpe.  She also had innumerable special friends over the years, as well her dogs with creative names like Hungry, Lady, and Brown Dog (reportedly stuck with that name because her kids would not agree on a name).

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2PM, Saturday, July 5, 2025, in the Club House at Westminster Village, 500 Spanish Fort Blvd, Spanish Fort, AL 36527. The family will receive friends for a visitation beginning at 1PM until the service time. Interment will be held at 11AM on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 in Spring Hill Cemetery at Spring Hill Baptist Church near Oakland MS.

Hughes Funeral Home, 26209 Pollard Road, Daphne, AL, is assisting the family.