Doris Verboon passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Saturday, June 29, 2013 at the age of 95. She was born Doris Janet Butcher to her parents, Jack and Verna Butcher, in her grandmother’s house in Angiola, CA on February 27, 1918. Her first years were spent in that small community. Always wise beyond her years, she started school at age 4 in a one-room school house with Elga Hall as her teacher. Her father, a grain harvester and miner, moved his wife Verna,, Doris and her younger brother Douglas from place to place often, but they spent most of their lives in the Kings and Tulare County areas, except for a brief time when they lived in a tent in Brentwood, CA. She attended elementary school in Exeter and Corcoran and graduated from Corcoran High in 1935. She attended and graduated from Visalia Junior College in 1937. She continued her education in Library Science at Fresno State for a semester before meeting her husband and love of her life, William Verboon. They married in Corcoran on Mother’s Day May 8, 1938. William and Doris lived in Corcoran for the first 10 years of their marriage where their first child, Billy, was born in 1939. In 1948, they purchased the Gold Top Ranch on 12th and Flint avenues and had two more children: son John Richard and daughter Carole. William farmed the ranch until 1985, when he retired and turned the operation over to their son Billy and grandson Doug who continued to farm cotton, corn, and walnuts. In 1988 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and built a new home in town, leaving the country life for city living. The Kings County Homecoming Committee selected them to represent the Grangeville area in the 1991 Homecoming Parade. They were happily married for 61 years until his passing in July 1999.
Doris and Bill loved traveling, and took many trips with Drake Tours as well as cruises on the Mississippi River, Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. In the 50's and 60's there were more than a dozen trips to the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 to watch Indy and stock car races, with side trips to Detroit to pick up a new car at the factory each year, and drive it home. They stopped in Kentucky to visit Doris' cousins on her mother's side and made close friendships with many of them.
Doris faithfully attended the First Presbyterian Church from 1952 until her passing. She was baptized there and became a member in the 1970's. She went on to serve as a deacon and elder in the church, and was an active participant in the Agape Circle group and many church activities. She took her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to church every Sunday that she could, and seldom missed a day. She served as the ideal role model for her family, from being a faithful Christian to always being more concerned about the welfare of others than herself. Doris could not ever be found saying an unkind word about another person, and she was fiercely independent, even after moving into the Remington Retirement Community 4 years ago. She was known as" Dangerous Doris" on the bean bag baseball team there, and also won several of the of the Halloween Costume Contests, once as a "deviled egg," and last year as a Superior Dairy ice cream sundae! She vowed to be happy every day and encouraged all those around her to do the same. When she turned 92 she unwillingly gave up driving the "elderly" ladies to and from meetings and church. She had always been the driver and didn't see any reason to stop at that point!
She was a longtime member of the 19th Century Round Table Study Club, joining in 1962. She and Bill belonged to a bowling league at KC Bowl with many of their friends on their own team from Gold Top Ranch in the 50's. She was also an avid crafter and participated in a craft group for more than 25 years. She loved to sew , knit and crochet, and make quilts for the family and community. She was a 4-H sewing leader for Grangeville 4-H Club in the early 60's, and a member of the Pioneer Elementary Mother’s Club during the 1950s and until 1964. All 3 of her children, and most of her grand and great grandchildren attended and graduated from Pioneer School, and she was very proud when her grandson Doug served on the Pioneer School Board for 16 years. Education was very important to her and she kept a college fund for her grand and great grandchildren to encourage them to continue their education after high school.
In 2006, she embarked upon a new career at the age of 87 when she and her grandson Doug purchased Cinnamon Square Mall in Lemoore. She thought you were never too old to learn something new, until she was given a computer in 2006 and after attempting to master the art of typing on a screen and printing on paper in a machine clear across the room, she gave up!
She was preceded in death by her parents Jack and Verna Butcher; her husband William Verboon; her brother, Douglas Butcher and her son, John “Ricky” Verboon. She is survived by a son William “Billy” Verboon and his wife Karen of Tetonia, ID; a daughter, Carole Delap and husband Chuck of Visalia, CA. Four grandchildren, Sandra Verboon-Reed, Doug Verboon and wife, Jill, all of Hanford; Sarah Delap of Visalia; Katie Adams and husband Chad of Fresno. Ten great-grandchildren Cassie Verboon, of Boston, MA, Courtney Verboon, Arie Verboon, Kari Barba, Chelsea Verboon, Kelsey Reed, Chase Reed, all of Hanford, Joseph Rodriguez of Visalia, Lola Adams of Fresno, Jonathan Hiatt of Visalia; One great-great-grandson, Drake Valdivia of Hanford; and numerous nieces and nephews and her beloved cat, Bitsy.
Services for Doris will be held at the First Presbyterian Church in Hanford at 10:00 am on Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Visitation will be held on Monday, July 8, 2013 at People's Funeral Parlor from 5-7 pm.
Donations may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church, the American Cancer Society, or your favorite charity.
Family and friends may visit www.peoplesfuneralchapel.com to view her legacy and send condolences to the family.
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