Doris E. Stewart

Doris Ethel Stewart was born in Yakima to Lee and Ethel Strother on September 26, 1919. The family, soon to include little brother Stanley, lived in parker where Lee established a hay and grain company. Money was scarce but she always spoke of her childhood with fondness. She went to Wapato High, graduating in 1937. In 1939 she moved to Yakima to attend Whitworth Business College. A young man named Ray Stewart was taking courses. He became often present when she was practicing typing. She had started a job at Schultz furniture. As she walked to work in the morning she would pass a restaurant. Ray would be there having coffee. They began going out. She met his best friend Bob Aumiller and a girl named Geneva Ray. On February 17, 1941 Ray and Doris were married. Bob and Geneva stood up for them. When Bob and Geneva were married later that year Ray and Doris stood up for them. The couples remained close for the rest of their lives. Old friends are the ones who know us best and love us anyway.

When war came Ray enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Doris accompanied him to the training bases. When he went over seas she returned to Yakima to wait. In June 1944 the telegram arrived saying Ray’s plane had gone down in Occupied France. Three months later another telegram came announcing he was safe.

At war’s end they returned home to Yakima. Ray took up his previous job at Blake, Moffit and Towne. A house was built on the GI Bill. In 1946 a son Brian was born. In 1949 a daughter Linda was born. Doris concentrated on her home and family: Cub Scouts, Brownies, little league baseball, dance lessons, summer camp, school activities. Christmas was always a major event, the tree decoration a magical ceremony. Holidays were feasted with the extended and expanding family. In 1962 the family moved to a new house. For Doris, who remembered cold water hauled from a well, dark nights, and winter walks to the outhouse, this was a dream come true, and a place to establish a secure and loving home for her family.

When the children left that home, as children will do, Ray and Doris, as parents will do, took up a more leisure life. Golf became a particular pleasure, especially after Ray retired, more for new friends made and time spent with them than the game. In 1972 a long anticipated grandchild was born and Sabin was a joy to Doris for

the rest of her life. In 1960 Doris had became a member of First Presbyterian Church. Her faith was a means to meaning for her and in her last years of source of consolation and strength. The other great support of her last years was the love and caring of her friends and family which bore her up even in the most difficult times.

She graced the world and the world is a lesser place without her.

She is preceded in death by her husband Ray, her parents Lee and Ethel, and her brother Stanley.

Survivors include: her son, Brian Stewart of Seattle, her daughter, Linda Brabb of Eugene; her grandson, Sabin Brabb and his wife, Elena Perez Brabb and their daughter, Sophia; her sister-in-law, Phyllis Strother of Yakima; Ron & Patty Snelling of Puyallup; Shirley and Bob Schwalt of Colorado Springs.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 19, 2011 at First Presbyterian Church. Memorial gifts can be made to the Parkinson Association. Keith & Keith Funeral Home assisted the family with the arrangements.