Doris Mae Potter Laing was born on May 20, 1932 in Flynn Township, Sanilac County, Michigan to Russell and Flora Potter. She passed away calmly and peacefully at home on April 21, 2023. When Doris was about 1 year old she went to live with her uncle and aunt, Eber and Lydia Harrison. She lived with them, near to her parents, four sisters, and two brothers until her marriage in 1954. Her husband, an art education professor, brought them to Denton in 1960 with their daughter, Lee Ann. Daughter Sharon was born two years later.
Doris worked as an Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the Library Science school at UNT for several years after her divorce in 1968. She moved to TWU in 1978, working as an Administrative Assistant in the Office of Student Life for several years. By 1986 she had moved to the Graduate Office where she stayed until retiring - for the first time. That lasted about a year and when the Registrar’s Office asked her to return for a short time, she agreed to the temporary job. She retired fifteen years later, for good this time. In retirement, she volunteered weekly at Ruth’s Room for Habitat for Humanity for 17 years, enjoying the interaction with younger volunteers and the wider community - and the shopping.
Doris was a spirited traveler, even as a single mom. She was the sole driver on summer vacations with her girls and another single mom’s family to the New Mexico mountains and Colorado, as well as wandering trips to Michigan and Florida to visit family. With adventurous friends, she traveled across Texas and several other states, venturing further afield as far as British Columbia, Canada. Doris was thrilled to fly over the “Big Pond” to visit Lee Ann and family at US Air Force bases in England and Germany. Her last trip, at the age of 84, was a river cruise through Europe from Paris to Prague, Czechoslovakia with very special friends. She was so proud to be still traveling at that stage of her life.
Doris ensured her daughters always behaved properly at a crossroads in time between traditional and changing societal values. She never claimed to be a “women’s libber,” but encouraged many young women to stand up for themselves, to stand firmly for what was right and call out what was wrong in any situation. She persevered in a time that was not often kind to women, always holding her head high, with steel in her eyes. Not many crossed her. Doris’ life philosophy was “Keep your head up, push forward, and do your best.”
Doris leaves behind her daughters, Lee Ann Yates and Sharon Coleman and their husbands, Jerry and Bill; grandchildren Kelly McGill and husband, John, Jacque Driscoll and husband, Shau, Mark Klingele, Jr., Katie Carter and husband, Chris, and Austin Coleman and wife, Jennie; great-grandchildren Kayla, Joslyn, and Gavan McGill and Jack and Finn Driscoll. She will meet beloved family members who preceded her in death: her parents, aunt and uncle, siblings Lois, Betty, Nancy, Marshall, and Billy and granddaughter-in-law, Amanda Klingele.
Doris’ family holds great gratitude for her closest friends and caregivers for the love, support, and attention they showed their mother over the last few years. She could not have fulfilled her wish of staying at home without you. Thank you.
A memorial service will be held to celebrate Doris’ long and full life at First Christian Church, 1203 Fulton, Denton on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 1:00pm.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Doris’ memory to Habitat for Humanity, Easter Seals, March of Dimes, or the American Heart Association, or to First Christian Church, Denton for grounds beautification - all causes that were important to Doris.
