Dorothy “Dot” Moss April 10, 1940 – December 27, 2018 Share this obituary Send Flowers View/Sign Guest Book| Send Private Condolences| Send Sympathy Card Dorothy S. “Dot” Moss passed away Thursday evening, December 27, 2018 at 6:19 pm at St. Joseph’s Hospital at the age of 78. Dot was born on Parris Island Marine Base on April 10, 1940 to Sgt. Joseph R. and Ruth Chaplin Shuman.
She attended schools in North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and graduated from Beaufort High School in South Carolina in 1958. She went on to graduate from what is now known as South College with a degree in Secretarial Administration. She then went to work for the Attorney at Law team of Bill and Spence Grayson.
She later worked for Spence Grayson as he ran for State Senator. After that she was the secretary for the International Union of Operating Engineers, where she met her husband-to-be Arnold Moss and they married in March of 1963. She gave birth to two boys, Jimmy in 1964 and Randy in 1966.
During the 1970’s she was treasurer of the Pooler School P.T.A., treasurer of the Chatham Cyclists Club, Publicity Chairman for the Pooler Athletic Association, served as substitute teacher at both Pooler and Bloomingdale Schools, Chairman of the school class mothers club, Cub Scout Den Mother, Chairman of the Pooler Athletic Association and Columnist for the Westside Weekly Newspaper. She scored a one on one interview with Burt Reynolds in 1973 when he was in Savannah filming “The Longest Yard” movie. She was also Vice Chairman of the U.C.S. Recreational Council in Savannah, co-chaired a fund drive for mentally handicapped children in Savannah, a volunteer Girl Scout worker, Chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation Bike-A-Thon in Pooler and lifetime member of the Pooler Athletic Association.
She also participated in women’s sports which included playing basketball for the Grainger Toyota team, playing first base for the Flying Ladies softball team (which won the Savannah city championship in 1975), was captain of the Steel Erectors bowling team, played volleyball for Quality Cycles, coached the Pooler Girls 1976 softball team and was team captain of the Ace Pacers tennis team in Savannah. She was an assistant teacher of the youth adult’s class at Pooler First Baptist Church and she drove a school bus for Calvary Baptist Day School for several years. She was mission’s chairman for the Baptist Young Women Group and Grade Mother Chairman for the 5th grade class at Calvary.
In 1979 she and her son Randy rode across the entire state of Iowa in the Iowa State Bike Ride. This inspired her to create the Georgia State Bike Ride in 1980. She named it The Great G.A.S.B.E. which stood for Georgia’s Annual State Bike Event.
She handed over the reins of the bike ride after 10 years and the name was changed to B.R.A.G. which stands for Bike Ride Across Georgia and continues to this very day. During the 1980’s she met President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy at the Desoto Hilton in Savannah during a campaign rally and got a picture with him.
She played softball for Silk Hope Baptist Church, coached middle school volleyball at Calvary, Started the Coastal Bicycle Touring Club in Savannah and played team tennis for the Chatham Tennis Club. She served as secretary to a Rabbi at the Agudath Achim Synagogue from 1983 to 1986 and was a secretary at Savannah Urology for two years after that. She then began her 13-year stint as secretary at St. Joseph’s Hospital where she retired in April of 2002.
Since retiring she has been a member of the Coastal Georgia Archaeological Association, the Southern Bicycle League, various fossil clubs in South Carolina and Florida, the Kayak Club in Florida, the Audubon Society, Georgia Wilderness Society, Ogeechee Canal Society, Coastal Gardens and the Altamaha Riverkeepers. She was also a Special Olympics coach, President of the Limerick Ladies Lions Club and board member of Keep Liberty County Beautiful. She spent many days picking up litter and keeping our rivers and barrier islands clean.
Her yard is a testament to her love of plants and trees. She has won numerous awards including The Pioneer Award which she received from the Governor in 1999 for her extensive work and effort promoting the state of Georgia. She was also very artistic.
She could paint, draw, sketch and dance up a storm. She loved the old western TV shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza and she watched the Match Game with Gene Rayburn every single day on the Game Show Network. She developed a love for NFL football several years ago after her son Jimmy explained the rules to her.
She would even watch games that Jimmy had no interest in like the Bills vs the Cardinals. Her favorite player was Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and she wrote him a letter telling him how much she loved watching him play. During the off season she would tell Jimmy that she was having withdrawals from no football.
She also had a great sense of humor. She lived in Lake George in Midway, Georgia since 1994 and loved feeding the wild animals and birds that would appear on her deck. Frequent visitors were squirrels, raccoons, possums, red birds, blue jays, hummingbirds and many others.
She was “Semper Paratus” and “Semper Fidelis” which means “always ready” and “always faithful”. At last her journey is over…. her cloud is now reserved.
She left a Bible verse for Jimmy to find when she passed. It’s comes from 2nd Timothy, verse 7 which says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”. She is survived by her two sons, Jimmy of Garden City and Randy of Pooler; her grandson, Charlie Moss; her brother and sister-in-law Joe and Connie Shuman of Meldrim; her sisters and brother-in-law’s Diane and Richard Skovran of Myrtle Beach, Ruthie and Mike Burgstiner of Savannah, and Tracy Kessler of Port Wentworth.
She is also survived by aunts and uncles of the Chaplin family in Beaufort and Port Royal, South Carolina and last but not least her 12-year-old cat Saxby named after her Grandfather Saxby Chaplin. Visitation will be from 2:00 – 3:30 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at Carter Funeral Home Bryan Chapel. The funeral service will begin at 3:30 pm and burial will follow in Midway United Methodist Church Cemetery.
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