Doris Louise DeLaune was born April 15, 1924 in Highlands, Texas to parents Gardner Kernan DeLaune and Ruth Barrett DeLaune. She was the third child of eleven children. Her mother delivered her alone in her bedroom and cut the cord by herself, setting the course of the life span for Doris.
Doris worked as a nurse through WWII at Heights Hospital in Houston. She worked with Daisy Ella Roberts and they lived in the same boarding house. Daisy wrote to her brother, Nathan L. Roberts, who was in the Army. On a whim, Doris began writing to him as a pen pal. To make a long story short, after the war ended in Europe and Nathan returned home, they were married 6 days later on Friday the 13th, July 13, 1945. Friday the 13th became a favorite day for Doris.
Doris and Nathan brought three children into the world; Doris Ellen in October 1946, Margaret Ann in December 1948 and Jerry Ray in March 1951. When her father retired, Doris and Nathan purchased her parents large home in 1954. Raising their children in the large home left many wonderful memories. Those memories were severely challenged in September 1961 when Hurricane Carla unleashed a powerful tornado that destroyed every building on the property. All that was saved was the car they evacuated in and the few clothes they had taken.
As they rebuilt in another town, further from the coast, everything started from nothing. Holidays were celebrated with the basics of family togetherness. To enhance the family income, Doris began doing something that she knew very well. She began baking bread and selling it in the small community. She did not have the luxury of commercial machines to make the dough. She kneaded it by hand in her small kitchen, making 40 to 50 loaves per week selling to a wide variety of customers. In the process, all three children were skilled in the process of making bread.
As finances improved and debt was paid, she resumed her career in nursing until retirement.
Doris and Nathan were raised in the church and they took their children to church. There was never an argument between them. The children were disciplined with love and never mistreated or disrespected. God ruled the household and God blessed them accordingly.
Nathan, her husband of 61 years, died a few days after their anniversary. In June 2015, Margaret died in her sleep, breaking everyone’s heart and leaving another void in the family.
Doris died on her favorite day, Friday the 13th. She was 96 years and 7 months of age. We are comforted to know that Nathan (our Dad) took her hands from ours in her final seconds.
Her legacy continues with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Her story is not completed with her passing.
Services for Doris will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 18, 2020 in the Gipson Funeral Home Chapel, with Bro. Nathan Parnell and Frank Stewart officiating. Interment will follow in the Huntington Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 1:00 p.m. until service time on Wednesday at the funeral home.
Condolences may be offered at www.gipsonfuneralhome.com
Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home.
