Doris Gordon Dworsky was born on October 1, 1925, in Brooklyn, NY, and died at home in Raleigh, NC, on April 17. While working and attending NYU as a part-time student, she met and married Milton Dworsky of Raleigh in 1945. During the early years of their marriage, the couple became parents and worked together in the children’s clothing store that they owned. After many years of working in retail clothing businesses, Doris was employed for two decades by the state of North Carolina, ending her career in state government as a Statistical Research Associate for the NC Department of Health and Human Services. Following her retirement, Doris concentrated on establishing and operating a fine-jewelry business and on adding adventures to the childhood of each of her grandchildren.
Doris loved to entertain people. A passion for the theater led her to the Raleigh Little Theater, where in the 1960s she began working both on stage and off. She won an RLT best supporting actress award for her performance in Come Blow Your Horn and a technical service award for her work as a house manager and props mistress. In the 1980s, Doris moved from the stage to the screen. The best-known films in which she appeared include Critical Condition and Crazy People.
Despite her busy schedule, Doris found time to be an active member of Beth Meyer Synagogue and the Congregation’s Sisterhood as well as one of Beth Meyer’s Sunday School teachers. She served as President of the North Carolina Association of Jewish Women; and her support of organizations that serve disadvantaged Jews and help to protect Israel was unwavering.
Doris was preceded in death by her parents, Julius Gordon and Florence Feldman; by her husband, Milton Dworsky; and by her son, Lee Dworsky. She is survived by two daughters, Myrna (Mrs. Reuven) Yalon and Risa Botvinick; a son-in-law, Ira Botvinick; a granddaughter, Melissa Botvinick; a grandson and his wife, Marshall Botvinick and Karen Burns.
Doris’s family would like to acknowledge the staff of Hospice of Wake County, particularly Polly Addison and Jacque Grady, as well as the friends, caregivers, nurses, and physicians who had a profound impact on the quality of Doris’s life in recent years. Special thanks go to Doris’s primary care physician, Dr. C. Bradley Carlson, and his nurse, Lucy Kurki; together they demonstrated what constitutes excellent medical care.
The funeral service for Doris will be at Brown-Wynne, 1701 E. Millbrook Rd., on Thursday, April 19, at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at the Raleigh Hebrew Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in memory of Doris to any of the following: Hospice of Wake County, Resources for Seniors, or Sha’Arei Israel-Lubavitch, the congregation with which Doris was affiliated in the final years of her life.
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