Doris Irene Pietras

Doris Irene (Berry) Pietras, age 89, of Danbury passed away peacefully the morning of April 22, 2017 in her beloved home with her daughters by her side. Doris was born May 30, 1927 in Plymouth, England. The daughter of William Ernest and Elsie Burge Berry, she was raised by her father after her mother passed at an early age. Doris attended school in Plymouth through high school graduation. She later worked as a payroll administrator in the British Naval Dockyard. Doris met her husband Sylvester, a sailor of the Polish Navy, on the dance floor at a dinner hosted by local women for sailors under British command. Doris and Syl were married in Plymouth in 1947, shortly before they set sail to Venezuela with the hope of moving to the United States.

Doris and Syl started their family in Yonkers, New York. In 1959, they moved to Danbury, ‘the country,’ where they purchased their first home. Doris, a fiercely devoted mother, worked in the Danbury school lunch program as a cashier while raising her three children. She began her banking career in 1972 at State National Bank as a teller, a career she continued for 23 years before retiring from her roles of manager and assistant vice president at Gateway Bank.

Doris was a founding member of the Transatlantic Brides and Parents Association that provided a network of support for British war brides and their families. Doris was an active member of the United Methodist Church of Danbury involved in many positions including Superintendent of Sunday School and Treasurer. Additionally, Doris coordinated the creation of the first Danbury Teen Center within the church and was involved with the Brookfield Senior Center. In her later years, Doris enjoyed therapeutic swim classes at the YMCA and socializing with friends at Dunkin Donuts after class.

Doris carried with her a lasting love for her home country and delighted in keeping up with the happenings of the British Royal Family. Doris held a deep appreciation for simple pleasures -- watching the birds from her window, pinch and a punch for the first of the month, Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune, UConn basketball, the Daily Word, hearing the daily activities and accomplishments of her family, any and all sweet treats, and her cuppa (cup of tea).

Doris was predeceased by her husband, Sylvester Pietras, and her brother, Fred Berry. She is survived by a daughter Krystina (Tina) Tinelli and her husband Mike, of North Waterboro, Maine; a son Michael Pietras of Danbury; a daughter Debbie Pietras Nolan and her husband Mark, of Danbury; by her grandchildren, Kerrie Doyle and her husband Ted, Todd Tinelli and his wife Kinsey, all of North Waterboro, Maine; Andrew Nolan and his sweetheart Patrice of Phoenix, Arizona; and, Aubrey Nolan of Danbury; by four great grandchildren, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Kendall, and Teagan; and, lastly by her dear, sweet friend Rose Tinelli.

A celebration of Doris’s life will be shared at the United Methodist Church of Danbury on Clapboard Ridge Road on Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 11:00 AM, with a reception immediately following in the church hall. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Green Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Families Network of Western CT, 5 Library Place, Danbury, CT 06810, www.fnwc.org.