Doris June DeFoe

Doris passed away on March 14, 2024. She was born to Eva and Jack DeVinney on June 25, 1924, and grew up in Bay City, Michigan with her 4 sisters. Being poor during the Great Depression made a major impression on her life. She never forgot a time when she couldn’t attend school because she had no shoes.

In 1944, she earned her Teaching Certificate from Bay City Jr. College and taught in a 2-room country school for 2 years. She married Lewis DeFoe on June 8, 1946, and received her B.A. in Elementary Education from U of M in 1948. They provided a happy, nurturing home to five children: Anne (who passed away at 5 weeks old), Martha, John, George (later name change: Joseph Youngman), and Helen. She and Lew were married for 50 years before he passed away in 1997.

After moving to Jackson in 1969, with 3 children still at home, she enjoyed working part-time at Jacobson’s. In the 1980’s, she delighted in serving as the branch librarian in Hanover. With friends, Doris enjoyed golfing, cross country skiing, and attending the symphony and theater. She also loved traveling to see family in Europe and the U.S., and participated in a medical mission to Honduras.

Doris’s last years were made financially secure by a generous gift from Lewis’s late sister, Nancy. They were graced with abundant loving attention of her youngest child, Helen, who was supported by her sister, brothers, children & extended family. Doris is survived and remembered with great love by John and wife Rueith Ottiger in MD, Joseph and wife Lynn Murphy in the U.P., Helen in Jackson, grandchildren Nathaneal, Samuel, Noah, & Sarah Ksiazkiewicz, extended family members Werner deFoe in NYC, and Aida and Nigel McGugan in Ann Arbor, as well as many loving nieces and nephews. Daughter Martha passed away in February 2023.

Her funeral service will be held at the First United Methodist Church downtown on her 100th birthday, June 25th 2024 at 2:00 p.m. You are invited to meet with her family in the hour preceding the service. If desired, donations may be made in her memory to the Dahlem Environmental Education Center, where she took each of her grandchildren to Day Camp when they were young.

Doris’s steady, dignified manner and high standard of behavior were and still remain a great influence on us all.