Carolyn Virginia Dorsett Reed

Carolyn Virginia Dorsett Reed was born in Orange, Texas on August 1, 1945 to Vernon and Merlene Dorsett. A few years later, Vernon moved the family to Clute, Texas, where he opened and operated Dorsett’s Texaco Station at 632 S. Main for over fifty years. Throughout Carolyn’s early years she attended school at Clute Elementary and later Clute Junior High. Carolyn, being a very shy young girl, let one of her best friends talk her into trying out for cheerleader. She was accepted and was a Clute Junior High cheerleader for three years. Later on in life she would often tell her husband Bobby, I can’t believe I ever did that.

Then came that fateful night in October of 1962 when Carolyn’s life would be forever changed. It was bonfire night at Brazosport High School and Bobby Reed, Carolyn’s future husband, had just finished a band gig and was getting a Coke at Brazos View when a carload of girls, with their horn just a blasting, raced through the parking lot and kept driving. Bobby followed them down the street to Hart’s Drive In and pulled up beside their car. In the back seat sat a beautiful sixteen year old girl named Carolyn Dorsett. Bobby asked her to roll the window down and they exchanged phone numbers. When Bobby called her the first words out of her Carolyn’s mouth was, “you don’t want to go with me I’m skinny”. They started dating and got married at the Galveston County Courthouse on November 12, 1963 (ten days before the assassination of John F. Kennedy) Carolyn was eighteen and Bobby was twenty one. Carolyn’s dad didn’t want her to marry a musician so after a one-night honeymoon, at the Holiday Inn in Alvin, they both simply went back to their respective homes. A month later Carolyn’s mother heard a girl on the radio say, congratulations to Bobby and Carolyn Reed on getting married. Carolyn was walking through the living room when her mother asked her, are you married? Carolyn shook her head yes.

Vernon had a vacant duplex at 915 S Shanks so he let Carolyn and Bobby have it rent free. After Vernon and Bobby got to know each other they became good friends. On May 15, 1966 Carolyn gave birth to Taylor Reed. (she and Bobby’s only child) Carolyn was only home from the hospital for one day when she started having severe pain. She was taken back to the hospital where she was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. Her doctor told Bobby that if she was to have a long and fruitful life they would have to stay on top of the diabetic situation. Carolyn turned eighty years old on August 1, 2025. Both Carolyn and Bobby are devout Christians and were both saved, baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Then another life changing event would occur on Christmas day in 1970 when Carolyn bought a Magic Kit for Taylor. Since the moment Taylor opened that present it has been a lifetime of Magic. Although Bobby went full-time into the real estate business in 1975 it was 1979 when the magic took front and center. Bobby opened The Taylor Reed Magic Theater on main street in Clute. Carolyn decorated the theater and played host to over 300 birthday parties at this theater. During Taylor’s growing up years Bobby bought a touring bus and he and Carolyn would travel all over Louisiana and Texas with Taylor’s Magic Show.

Bobby would never leave Carolyn alone. Carolyn and Bobby frequently visited Las Vegas and they started taking Taylor with them when he was ten years old. They went to all the magic shows where he met and later became good friends with David Copperfield and Siegfried and Roy.

In 1977, Carolyn, Bobby and Taylor moved into 270 Wayne Dr, Clute, Texas where Carolyn and Bobby have lived for over forty eight years. When Taylor turned twenty, he moved to Las Vegas and was there for ten years performing Magic. Then in 2000 Bobby bought the Lake Theater at 3 Circle Way in downtown Lake Jackson. Once again, Carolyn stayed busy decorating the stage on the Lake One side and decorating for parties and fundraisers on the Lake Two side. On a side note, Taylor married Heather Braswell on March 16, 2002 in Lake Two.

During the Lake Theater days, Carolyn and Bobby would host Lake Theater fan trips. There were several cruises, charter bus trips to Graceland, Branson, Missouri, Louisiana, and the Arlington Opry. In 2005 Taylor and Heather moved to Branson, Missouri where he has been performing for over twenty years. While in Branson, Carolyn and Bobby have three new grandchildren. Jillian, Anders and Henrick. Dylan, the first grandchild, was born in Las Vegas on January 18, 1988 to Tayor’s first wife Judy.

During Carolyn and Bobby’s sixty five years together, couples from all over the world simply dream of this type of happiness. I love you baby, see you in heaven.

Carolyn was preceded in death by her father Vernon Dorsett, her mother Merlend Dorsett and her two brothers Stevie Ray Dorsett and Emory Dorsett.