Doris Jane Pearce

Doris Jane Grimes was born on May 21, 1932, in, Waterford, to Helen Machnik Grimes and Leslie “Red” Grimes. She had an older brother, Leslie Grimes, who predeceased her.

In 1952 she met a dashing young Marine named Bruce Pearce from Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. Six months later they were married at the Submarine Base Chapel on June 6, 1953. A daughter, Susan Ann, soon followed. A few years later, Nancy Ann was born.

Doris loved being a Marine Corps wife. She traveled with her family all over the country and was wonderful at creating a warm home wherever the family landed. She endured long separations from Bruce. During the thirteen months he spent in the Vietnam War, she wrote a letter to him every single day; such was the bond between them.

They retired to Old Lyme in the early seventies. Doris loved spending time with her Machnik relatives: aunts and uncles and cousins.

In her older years Doris was content to follow the goings on of her grandchildren and above all, spending time with her beloved Bruce. Theirs was the greatest love story never written.

Doris is survived by her husband, Bruce Pearce; she is predeceased by her daughter Susan Pearce Roper and survived by daughter Nancy Pearce. She is also survived by her two grandchildren, Rachel Susan Shopper of Asheville, NC, and Benjamin Bruce Pearce of Portland, Oregon, as well as nieces, nephews and cousins.

A graveside service will be held at Fountain Hill Cemetery, Deep River Connecticut, on Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 11am.