Algarve Restaurants

Walton Hills - Stool- warmers at Tony's Cast away Bar held their breaths as Sophie Morris, clad in hot pants and a midriff-baring top, stretched to retrieve liquor bottles from the highest shelves.

Morris, who died Nov. 23 at age 86, routinely wore sexy outfits or otherwise cutting-edge fashions while operating the Bedford bar through most of the 1970s and '80s.

Few of her patrons realized that the barmaid with the firm body and youthful face was in her late 60s when she sold the place. Even her children did not know her true age until she died.

"She always did look young for her age," said former Walton Hills Police Chief Ron Keller, who had a better handle on Morris' age than most. He had gotten to know Morris and her husband, Tony, while they were raising their two kids in his village.

"She had a very nice shape," Keller said. "She did not try and conceal it."

Morris, who had received business training at Boyd College in downtown Cleveland, did secretarial work for such companies as Jack & Heintz, Etched Metal and Hamlet Hills. Her husband, Tony, worked for Thompson Products, which became TRW.

"They always wanted to own a bar," said their daughter Pat Graven.

Not long after they bought the tiny beer garden at 115 Northfield Road in the early 1970s, Tony's health declined.

After Tony died in 1975, Sophie kept the shot-and-a-beer watering hole open with a little bit of help from regular customers, who became her friends. They ran to the grocery store for her and helped prepare food - possibly more out of concern for their own survival than out of the goodness of their hearts, according to her family.

"She was such a lousy cook," her daughter said. "Pickled eggs? She would burn them."

Source : www.cleveland.com

posted by VIncent # 2:39 AM