Doris Lou Gates

Doris was born in Kenedy, Texas, where she spent her early years. She later moved with her sister to Victoria, Texas, where she completed secretarial school and found work at Foster Air Force Base. It was there that she met her future husband, James Gates, a USAF fighter jet pilot at the time.

For most of their married life, Doris and Jim lived in Central Pennsylvania, Camp Hill and Mechanicsburg. Doris was a devoted wife and mother and spent most of her married life as a homemaker, raising her children and caring for her family. She took great pride in her home, always making sure that the house was clean and that there was a good meal on the table for her family. Her two children remember her volunteering weekly to deliver Meals On Wheels to local elders. Doris was a proud “dog mom” to a Yorkshire terrier, Polly, and raised a pair of puppies, Wally and Doodles.

Doris spent many hours flying with Jim and her children in his Piper Cherokee, and later a Grumman Tiger. She completed a ‘pinch hitter’s’ course and learned how to land the plane in an emergency…thankfully, there never was one. She was never completely comfortable flying in a small plane, but she did get used to it, and logged many hours as Jim’s passenger in flying trips to Florida, Maine, Colorado, West Virginia, Texas, and many other states.

After her children had grown, Doris began a new chapter in her life working at Home and Hearth, a craft shop in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in the 1970’s. There, she shared her natural artistic talents by teaching classes in a wide variety of crafts: crochet, macrame, Scherenschnitte, decoupage, and quilting. She especially loved needlepoint, an interest that reflected both her creativity and her patience.

Doris was also an avid genealogist. For more than a decade, she devoted countless hours to researching and compiling her family's history, tracing the family's roots back through generations and preserving the stories and connections of those who came before her. Her work was a labor of love and a lasting gift to her family.

Later in life, Doris and Jim retired to Burnet, Texas, where they made their home on a beautiful hilltop. Surrounded by two dogs and two cats, they enjoyed a wonderful chapter of their lives together in a place they were proud to call home. During those later years, Doris became a notable button collector in central Texas, acting as treasurer for a Button Club in nearby Llano. Her framed button collections were put on display in local libraries at various times. She would often give little framed unusual buttons to people she’d recently met. Over time, she gave away more than one hundred of these small handmade button gifts to local acquaintances.

It is especially noteworthy that, over the years, Doris won a total of twenty first place Blue Ribbons at the Burnet County Fair. These ribbons were for quilts that she worked on with her niece, her button collection displays, and other crafts. She sometimes acted as a judge for other categories in the yearly Burnet County Texas Fairs.

Doris was generous, artistic, and deeply devoted to the people she loved. She was a wonderful mother and a great friend. Her warmth, creativity, devotion to her family, and the care she put into everything she did will be remembered by all who knew her.

Doris is survived by her husband, James Gates Sr.; her son, James Gates Jr.; her daughter, Andrea Clark; her grandchildren, Sean Clark, Nicole Clark and her family, Ian Gates and his family; her niece Brenda Connors and her family; her nephew Sam Clark and his family; her late brother Morris Eddy’s wife and children, as well as other extended family members and many friends who loved her.

Doris was an active participating member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, reflecting her lifelong interest in the history and heritage of her native Texas and the United States.

Doris will be remembered with love by her family and friends. Her memory will live on not only in the family she devoted her life to, but also in the family history she worked so diligently to preserve.