Obituary of Doris F. MacDonald

Doris Farrell MacDonald passed away on Thursday, October 22, 2009. She was born December 6, 1923 in Smithfield, Utah. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, C. Fred MacDonald, their seven children: John Farrell MacDonald (Victoria), Encinitas, CA; Michael Bentley MacDonald (Linda), Puyallup, WA; Janice Lewellen (Gale), New Plymouth, ID; Charles Fredrick MacDonald, III (Eva), Selah, WA; Amy Kathleen Bury (Geoff), Winlock, WA; Eva Magdalene Bernfeld, Pleasant Grove, UT; Gordon Bradley MacDonald (Teresa), Tacoma, WA plus 31 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and one sister, Dee Orako, Lake Tahoe, CA and one brother-in-law, LaVern (Gladys) Riggs, Nibley, UT. Doris was the third of six children born to Marion Lyman Farrell and Dionetia (Dee) Magdalene Mortenson. Her brother and sisters are Loa Winget, Ardith Farrell, both older than Doris, and Janice, Gladys and Eva Dee. All are deceased except for Dee. Doris was blessed with a full and successful life despite many difficulties. Their family grew up in the grinding poverty of the Great Depression. Her mother was diabetic and died in a diabetic coma after contracting the flu when Doris was only 8 years old. Both Doris and her sister Janice were stricken with rheumatic fever when Doris was 11 years old and Janice was 9. As lingering side effects of this disease, Janice developed a serious heart murmur and Doris was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis. Janice died from complications of her heart murmur about 5 years later and Doris lived with arthritis for the rest of her life. The arthritis severely crippled Doris so she could not walk. At first, she was pulled to school in a red wagon and was carried to her classroom, but later she was home schooled until she was in 9th grade. With Gertrude and Eva’s care, and with the encouragement of her sister Loa, she improved until she could walk without the aid of crutches when she was a junior in high school. Her father died in an industrial accident when she was 18 years old, just 2 weeks after she graduated from North Cache High School. Doris survived childbirth seven times, eleven joint replacement surgeries, the scare of being incorrectly diagnosed with tuberculosis and the reality of being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that affects tissues and organs of the body. After her mother’s death, the oldest two children in her family remained living with their father, the youngest two went to live with their mother’s cousin, her Aunt Ferl and Doris and Janice went to live with another of her mother’s cousins. Doris’ grandmother, Matilda Funk Mortensen and her grandmother’s sister, Florina (Aunt Freeny) Funk Bentley were very close. Their daughters, Dee (Doris’ mother) and Florina’s daughters, Gertrude and Eva Bentley, were also best friends and continued to be after Dee was married. Gertrude and Eva never married. Because they were so close, when Dee died, Doris and Janice went to live with the Bentleys. When Doris married Fred MacDonald, he jokingly complained that when he got married, he got three mothers-in-law. All of Doris’ children considered Gertrude and Eva the same as grandmothers. Doris was blessed with many talents. She loved music. As a child she sang with a children’s choir in the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. She sang there again in the late 50’s with a combined “Singing Mothers” choir from the Northwest region at a general conference of the Church. When she lived in Randle, WA as a young woman, she won a community talent contest singing an aria from an opera. This led to being invited to sing at many weddings and funerals, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She always encouraged her children’s musical talents. She was also artistic as a painter and sculptor. Just this summer while at the care center at Morton General Hospital, she created a floral arrangement, including making the pottery vase. It was entered in the Lewis County Fair where it won first prize. She was a terrific cook. For years she baked bread every week. She was an excellent seamstress. She made beautiful clothing for herself and her daughters. She even made a wool suit that Gordon proudly wore on his mission. She was skilled with needlework and crafts. Her grandchildren prize the hand made, personalized Christmas ornaments they received as gifts from her each Christmas. Doris has always been a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has served in every organization for children, young women and adults. She and her husband served as temple workers in the Seattle Temple. She had great faith in the blessings that come as a member of the Church. She was given a Patriarchal Blessing when she was a young woman. In the blessing, she was blessed that she would be the mother of “kings and queens”. Gertrude and Eva Bentley were troubled by this because they were certain that Doris was doomed to the life of a “cripple.” How could she possibly even get married, let alone give birth to children? But Doris was faithful and hopeful. She was in fact married and is the mother of four sons and three daughters, “kings and queens”. In 1959 after Doris was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, the disease was so aggressive, she was not given long to live. The disease mostly affected her lungs. Her Ward had a day of fasting and prayer in her behalf. Afterward, the Bishop went to her hospital room and gave her a priesthood blessing. After this blessing, she improved quickly and was home from the hospital within a week. Usually, when this disease clears up, it leaves a lot of permanent scar tissue that significantly reduces the capacity of the organs affected. Six months later a chest x-ray revealed no scar tissue remaining. While living and working in Salt Lake City as a young woman during World War II, she enjoyed doing her duty to help the troops by becoming a USO hostess. Late in 1943 she met “Mac” MacDonald and they were immediately attracted to each other. (Mom ALWAYS called Dad “Mac”.) She saw him only a few times until he shipped out to the South Pacific. During the time he was gone, they courted by mail. Toward the end of his deployment, he got cold feet and decided that commitment was out of order. The last letter she wrote to him was a blistering accusation, but he didn’t get the letter until after he got home. When he did, he called her and told her he was coming to Salt Lake City. She told him not to bother, but he came anyway. After a week, he went home without anything settled, but she says she did teach him how to kiss. A short time later, Mac’s mother called Doris and invited her to come to Seattle for a visit. She did go in April of 1946. The rest is history. They became engaged and were married at the pavilion at City Creek in Salt Lake City on August 29, 1946. Doris has lived in many places. After high school, she lived in the dorms at Weber State College, then again with the Bentleys after they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. After being married, she and her husband moved to Boise, Idaho then back to Salt Lake City, Utah. A couple years later they moved to the back woods of eastern Lewis County near Randle, WA where they lived in “pioneering” conditions. She was very happy to move into the “Red House” at the Cowlitz Falls after Fred built an addition on to the original cabin with a kitchen and bathroom which had electricity and running water. When Fred was called to be Branch President of the Toledo-Winlock Branch of the Church, they moved to a farm just outside Toledo, WA (1956). Later they moved to Portland, OR (1958), Chico, CA (1959), Citrus Heights, CA (1961), Puyallup, WA (1963), Loomis, CA (1968), Norman, OK (1968), Tulsa, OK (1972), Salt Lake City, UT (1974), and back to Puyallup, WA (1977). In 1993 they moved back to eastern Lewis County less than 1/2 mile from where the “Red House” once stood. Their home on Falls Road is a peaceful home where she loved the quiet pace of life and to watch the wildlife, especially the birds. Doris was seldom blessed with abundance, but because of her skill at provident living, and her positive attitude and faith in Jesus Christ, there were both temporal and spiritual blessings. If her temporal circumstances were at times a bit Spartan, she made the best of it and created a home full of the warmth of love and the confidence of security. She is revered by all who know her, especially her husband and her children. There will be a public viewing on Friday, October 30, 2009 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Curnow Funeral Home; 1410 Main Street; Sumner, WA. Funeral services will be at 11:00 AM on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 102 Crumb Rd; Morton, WA. See below for directions. Directions to the Funeral: From the North: Drive South on Hwy 161 (Meridian in Puyallup) to Eatonville. Turn left on Center St., which turns into Alder Cutoff Road. Turn left on Hwy 7. At Elbe, turn right to continue south on Hwy 7. At Morton, turn right on Hwy 12. Go 1.4 miles and turn right on Crumb Road. Turn right again and go to the top of the hill to the Church. From the East: Drive west on Hwy 12. At Morton, continue west past Hwy 7 1.4 miles and turn right on Crumb Road. Turn right again and go to the top of the hill to the Church. From the West: From I-5 take Exit 68. Go east 29.8 miles on Hwy 12. Turn left on Crumb Road. Turn right again and go to the top of the hill to the Church.