Doris-Mae Flye

Doris-Mae Flye joyfully ran into the arms of Jesus on the evening of July 7th, 2024 in New Hope, Minnesota at the age of 95. She lived her life as a dedicated servant of her Lord and Savior and was a never-ending example of faithfulness, positivity and hope.

Doris-Mae Tanner was born on May 16, 1929, in Portland, Maine to Clifton Tanner and Ruth Young Tanner (later Randall). The oldest of two girls, she and her younger sister Elizabeth (Lib) enjoyed life on her father’s dairy farm. As a teenager she knew she wanted three things: to marry Claude Flye (she knew this at 13, the first time she saw him), to go to Bible school in Wisconsin, and to fulfill God’s calling her to work with the Navajo people.

While at the Bible School of the Metropolitan Church Association in Wisconsin in 1950, she had determined that maybe it was the Lord's will for her to remain single and put herself fully into doing what was asked of her by the church.

For over ten years she served in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa to help in deaconess homes, cook, sew, and make greeting cards and aprons which were sold to support missionaries. She was also active in teaching children in Sunday School wherever she went.

In 1959 there was a fateful train ride in which Claude and Doris-Mae ended up in the same seat and realized that after all those years their feelings had not changed. They were married October 4, 1962.

Doris-Mae served as a faithful pastor’s wife first in Ft. Dodge where they pastored a store-front church and began to build their family. A lover of babies and children, she gave birth to three children, and then the young family relocated to Denver, Colorado where she loved other people’s children fiercely in her licensed day care home from 1970-1977.

She then served as a teacher's assistant in the early childhood education program at the local elementary school from 1977 until 1993. During their time in Denver, she and Claude pastored the Wesleyan Covenant Church and then were active members of the Villa Park Wesleyan Church and Lowell Church of the Nazarene.

In 1993 they had discovered Sun Valley Indian School, and within weeks of seeing it for the first time moved there, fulfilling Doris-Mae's teenage dream and the call she felt on her life at the age of 64. They were active members of the Sun Valley (AZ) Church of the Nazarene.

Though they never dreamed it would happen since they married at what was then considered “older” ages, Doris-Mae and Claude were able to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2012, seven months before Claude’s death at the age of 90.

At that time Doris-Mae relocated to Minnesota and became an active member of the St. Therese community. She dove fully into her new adventure there, seeking to encourage, motivate and pray for those around her. She attended Brunswick United Methodist Church, where her son-in-law was pastor, as long as her health permitted.

Doris-Mae loved music, especially old hymns, and was an avid reader, sometimes finishing a book a day. She believed she had the gift of intercession and spent hours of her life praying for others. She loved her garden plot and being outdoors and walked a mile a day until she was 90 years old. Every person she met couldn’t help but be encouraged by her resilience, determination and love for Jesus. She loved everyone she knew and held a perpetual belief that life and God were good.

Doris-Mae is survived by sister Elizabeth Squires of Dallas, TX, her daughter Claudia and husband Bart of Lynchburg, Virginia and her son Peter of Denver, Colorado. She is also survived by twelve grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren who she loved dearly and prayed for faithfully.

She was preceded in death by her son Nathan, her parents, and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

Gifts can be given in her memory to Native American Christian Academy, formerly Sun Valley Indian School, PO Box 4013, Sun Valley, AZ 86029-4013.

A memorial service will be held at 2pm on October 26, 2024 at Brunswick United Methodist Church, 6122 42nd Avenue North, Crystal, MN 55422.