Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Moreen Margaret Russell (Auber), 88, passed away peacefully on Thursday, March 26, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. Born on March 17, 1932, in London, England, to George and Alice Auber (Dowle), she survived the World War II Nazi bombing of London as a young child, and later worked for the American Army and Air Force Exchange Service at Royal Air Force Station Ruislip.

At the American NCO Club with girlfriends one evening after work, Moreen was introduced to her husband-to-be, Dalton Gray Russell, who asked her to dance on Dec. 23, 1960. Wasting no time, Dalton invited Moreen out on Jan. 2, 1961, and the new couple was inseparable until Dalton’s military transfer from England with the American Air Force, in January 1964.

With vague plans to marry (Moreen always insisted that Dalton never formally proposed to her), Moreen visited Dalton at his next duty station, Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base, in Burns Flat, Okla., on March 1, 1964. The couple married three days later, on March 4. After retiring from the military in San Antonio, Texas, Dalton and Moreen moved to Suffolk in 1975, where Dalton was born and raised.

In Suffolk, Moreen was an active and longtime member of Community Baptist Church and then Southside Baptist Church, an avid reader, and crossword puzzle enthusiast, who knitted more than 130 blankets for newborns at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Moreen was a proud citizen of her adopted country who loved to travel. Together, she and Dalton visited 18 foreign countries (many of them more than once) and traveled around the United States. Most Sundays after church, you could find her cooking a “proper” English roast with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes and green beans, with a homemade apple pie cooling nearby.

Moreen is survived by her husband of 56 years, Dalton Gray Russell; daughter, Nancy Jane (Neil) Fleitell of Bethesda, Md.; daughter, Holly Ann Russell, of Norfolk; and sister, Cherry Palmer of London, England. She is predeceased by her parents, George and Alice, and brother, Malcom, of London, England.

A memorial was held on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, at R.W. Baker & Co. Funeral Home and Crematory in Suffolk, before a burial service attended by immediate family members at Cypress Chapel Christian Church in Suffolk. Those wishing to express condolences may contact Dalton Russell via daughters Nancy or Holly. Online condolences may be expressed at rwbakerfh.com.