June 3, 1927—July 5, 2022.
Doris Lorraine Palmer Williams was born in Newton, Kansas, and died in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She married her high school sweetheart, Orville “Ed” Williams, on March 14, 1944. Before graduating from Wichita North High School, Doris worked at Bauer’s Dairy Store as an ice cream and cottage cheese maker in Wichita, Kansas. During World War II, she served in the Red Cross. She was a devoted homemaker, pastor’s wife, and was employed at a variety of institutions, including at the Social Security Administration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Veteran’s Administration in Houston, Texas, and Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Later in life, she earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology and studied for a master’s degree at Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Doris was a brilliant, loving, and ambitious woman. She played the guitar, mandolin, piano, and fiddle. She had a beautiful voice and enjoyed singing many kinds of songs, including Christian hymns, gospel, Western swing, folk, and country music. She loved to write poetry and music, not for public acclaim but for the satisfaction that came from the art itself. She excelled at the domestic arts, including cooking, baking, sewing, and quilting. Doris was always eager to make her friends and family feel at home. She believed fervently in the good news of the Christian gospel and in the resurrection of the dead. When faced with hopeless situations—the kind that tempt many to despair—she was fearless in her insistence on remaining hopeful. The advice that she mentioned regularly in her last year of life was, “Don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future. Just live in the now.”
Doris lived a full life to the end. After her husband passed away, she organized the Washita Valley Bluegrass Festival in Chickasha, Oklahoma, which featured monthly performances from musical acts throughout the region. She owned and operated Seven Star Books and Gifts in downtown Chickasha for many years. She organized fellowship groups to discuss members of the community who had passed away. She was the activity director at the Chickasha Senior Nutrition Center. She continued to entertain friends and family at her home. She took trips to Mexico and Cambodia. She often posted updates on Facebook that simply said, “Have a great day.” She was a member of Epworth United Methodist Church in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Doris was preceded in death by her husband, Orville Edward Williams; mother Lydia Jennie Bergen Palmer; father Orville Gilbert Palmer; step-father Henry A. “Steve” Palmer; sister Barbara Nadine Watson; brother Gene Stanleigh Palmer; and her sons, Douglas Gene Williams, Michael Edward Williams, and Donald Ray Williams.
She is survived by her daughter, Janet Lynn Williams of Chickasha, Oklahoma; many grandchildren; many more great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Doris will be interred with her husband at Ft. Sill National Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at Epworth United Methodist Church in Chickasha, Oklahoma at 1pm on August 18, 2022.
She will be greatly missed, and her legacy of love and faithfulness will live on to countless generations.