Born on the dusty plains of Plainview, Texas on March 27, 1937, Doris Jean Drinnon passed peacefully on August 13, 2022. In her formative years, Doris’ family moved through the southwest including Yuma, Arizona where Doris helped her family by picking cotton before she even turned 8. Doris was also an amazing athlete, winning her first high school race (anchoring a relay) while she was still in 8th grade. She was such an inexperienced runner that when she came to the tape at the end of her race, she hurdled it instead of breaking the tape. She was also a tomboy who enjoyed climbing barns and bridges for the thrill of the climb and the thrill when she jumped off of those roofs to the ground. Once, a nail added an extra level of “thrill” to her jump.
An avid singer, Doris sang in her high school choir while attending Chaffee High School where she graduated in 1955. Her love of music led her to the choir at Fullerton College where she met another singer, her future husband Geoff Willis. Doris would go on to get her teaching degree from Cal State Long Beach and began teaching in 1959. She was married the same year and Doris and Geoff had two children Geoffrey and Rebecca.
A born teacher, she pursued her love of education through teaching for more than 50 years, changing the lives and improving the minds of scores of children during that time. After teaching her first year for the Anaheim School District, Doris spent the next five decades working for the Brea-Olinda Unified School District.
Doris became a teaching pioneer when she agreed to start and lead a new program aimed at teaching non-native speakers who were all combined into a single class. This new concept was challenging as she found herself in a room of children whose primary or only language was Spanish, Greek, French, Tagalog, and many others. She rose to the challenge, teaching in the program for almost two decades.
The Dodgers were always a part of her life and she remembered listening to Vin Scully’s entire career. She happily recounted the day that Red Barber introduced the new youngster to the broadcast team, Vin Scully. Sounds of Dodger games filled her house literally every year of her life.
After her first marriage ended, Doris pursued several hobbies ranging from painting, to poetry, to art appreciation and ballroom dancing. It was this last hobby ballroom dancing when combined with her love of Disneyland, that brought Doris to the love of her life Larry Drinnon in 1987. Meeting on the dance floor in front of what is Space Mountain today, her marriage to Larry would continue in true love right up until the moment she passed. Through this marriage, Doris added two more children – Greg and Brandon. In addition to her husband and four children, Doris is survived by 12 loving grandchildren.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.dimondshannonmortuary.com for the Drinnon family.
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