WILMINGTON — On August 20, 2025, Iris Morton Todd took her final breath and left us all in her wake. After living a remarkably healthy life for more than 83 years, she was diagnosed with an aggressive pancreatic cancer, which quickly took its toll on her body.
Iris was born in 1942 in wartime Norfolk, Virginia. Her parents were Mattie Needham Morton and Joseph “Shorty” Morton. Iris spent significant portions of her childhood with her maternal grandparents Rose and Walker Needham in Montgomery County, North Carolina, and the experiences and relationships she shared with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives there formed indelible memories and long-lasting bonds. She attended Norview High School in Norfolk, where she played clarinet in the marching band and worked after school in her parents’ drycleaning business. When the Norfolk schools temporarily closed in 1958, Iris finished her education in Greensboro, North Carolina as a graduate of Greensboro Senior High School.
Iris met the love of her life, Ed Todd, on a blind date in Greensboro in 1960. They were married six months after that first date and built their life together throughout 51 years of marriage. They bought their first home and started their family in Charlotte, with daughter Gay and son Mark. After a short stint in Lumberton, they ultimately settled in Wilmington in 1970, where they both lived for the rest of their lives. Iris devoted her energies to her family until both children had graduated from high school, and then she decided to enter the work force. She applied to the first opening she circled in the newspaper employment ads and immediately landed a job as an ophthalmic technician in the offices of Drs. Poole and Malloy. She thoroughly enjoyed her career and worked for more than two decades with both Drs. Poole and Malloy, and later, Wilmington Eye Associates.
Iris will be remembered as someone who valued hard work and resourcefulness. Her family and friends admired her spunky nature and were a bit awed by her determination to do things the way she thought they should happen – Iris was never short on an opinion and persuading her to change her mind could be a most challenging and fruitless effort! She was a dedicated wife and mother, most admirably demonstrated by her loving attention to Ed as his primary caregiver during his struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. She was a first-rate cookie and cake baker, a fierce advocate for those she loved, an ever-willing lunch partner, and an avid reader who imbued her children with a love of books, an eagerness for learning, and respect for proper grammar.
After retirement, Iris volunteered as an adult literacy tutor with the Cape Fear Literacy Council. She enjoyed sewing and shared her pleasure in sewing by making scores of COVID masks for nonprofit organizations, “belongings” bags for unhoused people, and bookmarks for the Wilmington Public Library. Iris was a longtime member of Temple Baptist Church.
Iris outlived many of the people she cherished most, including her husband Ed, her parents, her brother Joseph Morton, Jr., her grandparents, all her aunts and uncles, and several cousins and in-laws. She has left many on earth to remember her, including her two children, Gay Shackelford of Travelers Rest, South Carolina (spouse Dan Shackelford) and Mark Todd of Raleigh (spouse Kathy Todd), and legions of friends, family members, neighbors, former colleagues, and church members who are grateful for the time they spent with her.
Her life will be celebrated in a graveside service at Oleander Memorial Gardens on August 30 at 11:00 AM. Donations in her memory can be directed to Lower Cape Fear Life Care.
