Obituary of Doris May Patterson

Doris May Davis Patterson Doris May Patterson died in Olympia, Washington on the evening of March 2 at Garden Courte Memory Care on Lilly Road. Doris and her late husband, William H. Patterson, moved to Olympia in the 1980s. She is survived by her daughter LLyn De Danaan (Patterson) of Shelton and Olympia, son Leigh “Judo” Patterson of Grants Pass, Oregon, grandchildren Ricardo “Ricco” Patterson of Grants Pass, Jenna Patterson of Portland , and Dejah Leger and Callie Hynek both of Seattle. She is also survived by several great -grandchildren. Both Doris and Bill were formerly of Wellston, Ohio where they had many friends and relatives. Doris was born November 23, 1921 in Dayton, Ohio. Her birth was heralded by the caul that covered part of her baby head, a fact that the Welsh side of her family considered auspicious. Her mother was the beautiful red-head Lelah Reversa May Davis, the daughter of a coal mining family whose mother, Mary Jane Owens May, raised her four small children cleaning houses after she was widowed. Doris’ father, whom she adored, was the prominent Ohio attorney and prosecutor Zora Pleasant Davis. Doris had an older brother, Ralph Donovan Davis, who died in the spring of 1942 when his aircraft crashed in a swamp in North Carolina. He was a graduate of Marietta College in southern Ohio and had enlisted as a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Doris was a romantic young woman with many friends. She frequented movie theatres and made repeat visits to newly released Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy films. She acted in plays, and loved to sing and recite Chaucer in old English. She worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio after graduation from Marion, Ohio high school until the smitten Bill Patterson (a pilot with his own WACO classic bi-plane in which he courted Doris) eleven years her senior, convinced her to marry him. The couple eloped to Kentucky and was married for more than fifty years, until Bill's death in 2001. During WW II, with Bill in the South Pacific, her brother gone, and her father in a nursing home suffering from an eventually fatal stroke, Doris worked in Marion, Ohio as a telephone operator and for Marion Engineering Depot where she was a driver for German POW's. Though in her early twenties, she kept her mother Lelah and her young daughter entertained and provisioned for the duration of the war. There was always music in the home, plenty of good, fresh food, and laughter. After the war, and as a young mother, she led both a Brownie troupe and a Girl Scout troupe. She encouraged her daughter in her various 4-H activities. She was an active Democrat in Greene County Ohio and ran for political office at a time women seldom did. Among her heroes was President Harry S. Truman whom she took her children to meet in his law offices in Kansas City. Later in life, Doris worked as a receptionist for doctors in Fairborn, Ohio and in Beavercreek Township, Ohio. She was well known among Beavercreek friends for riding a motor scooter to work. She raised her children to be just and was an anti-war activist in the late 1960s. In Olympia she engaged in volunteer activities. She and Bill worked for Meals on Wheels for several years. She treasured the time she spent in New Mexico where the family lived during the early 1950s. She and Bill also lived for a time near Sacramento, in Oklahoma, and in Texas. They returned to Wellston, Ohio for a short time after Bill, an aircraft electrician, retired from his job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. During her last years she made many friends at The Firs and Woodland, retirement communities in Olympia. Among those whom she most appreciated was Rod Smith who provided many wonderful hours of companionship and wrote to her faithfully during her residence at Garden Courte Memory Care. Life presented Doris with some nearly unbearable challenges, including her struggle with an unrelenting bi-polar illness. She was caring and kind towards the many new friends she met in the last years of her life and was appreciated for her plucky spirit. She also acknowledged and gave thanks for those who showed her kindness. Sally Kaufman, a devoted, unwavering visitor during the last year of her life, was especially treasured by Doris. Any remembrances should be sent in her name to Doctors Without Borders or The Pride Foundation/Black Hills. To leave a condolence for the family, click on View Guestbook below: