May Doris Walker

May Doris Walker, or "Doris" as she preferred to be called, was born on September 7, 1910, the fourth of ten surviving children of the Ferdinand family in the Essequibo County of what was then British Guiana. The family home was known as the "zorghouse" (or zorghuis in Dutch) and was situated amid fruit and coconuts trees on the single road that ran through the county. It was almost certainly a very rustic place in a time before the region knew electric lights and running water, when Edward VII had only recently died and Jack Johnson had only recently become heavyweight champ. Water had to be fetched by hand and wood chopped; two chores that frequently fell to Doro and perhaps helps to explain the robust strength she demonstrated throughout her life despite a diminutive frame.

Doris was a woman whose entire life was informed by her religious faith, a faith that constantly sought new perspectives and ritual as she went from Catholicism to Anglicanism to the Brethren to Seven Day Adventists, and eventually ended in a simple belief in the power of prayer. It was a religious faith and a belief in good works that she insisted be passed along to her children, who can all attest to their attendance with their mother at the various churches she tested and the occasional visit to "the Palms", or old folks home for the poor.

Doris' adult life began as a teacher in a small preschool she started, but eventually became the life of a fulltime housewife with the birth of the first of her seven children. That life became more demanding and stressful with the death of her first husband, William Choo Wee Nam, but Doris persevered and never altered her policy of helping any and all family members who might need a bit of assistance or a roof over their heads.

In the course of her long life May Doris has survived both her husbands, all but one of her siblings and, sadly, three of her children. She leaves behind her four daughters, several grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even a great-great grandchild.

If she had been asked how she would want to be remembered, we feel certain she would have said "as a child of God who, in turn, cared deeply about the children of this world". If anyone reading this would want to honor her memory, nothing would be more fitting than a contribution to Clifton's Boys Home through Holy Sacrament Church, 2801 North University Drive, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33024. Checks can be made to Holy Sacrament Church and on the memo line put in Memory of May Doris Walker/Clifton's Boys Home.

We take comfort in the fact that Doris' trials and sufferings in this life are at an end, and our hope is that her spirit can now rest in a better place. Knowing Doris; that may be in the company of long lost family and friends in a sunny simpler place and time, amid fruit and coconut trees, where the water has to be fetched by hand and wood for the cook stove chopped

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