Doris Rosalind Spalding passed away peacefully in her sleep at her Mount Vernon home on Oct. 10, 2012.

Doris was born to Daniel Thomas Noonan and his wife Lillian on April 8, 1926, in Roseburg, Ore. At about age 2, Doris and her twin brother, Dan, were given to Edward and Lillian (Hatfield) White when her mother was killed in a hit-and-run car accident. She lived there with them and their son, William, all through most of her childhood.

Doris graduated from high school in Centralia, Wash., and was in her first year of business school there when she met her future husband, William West French, a WWII veteran, in the summer of 1945. William “Bill” and Doris were married Sept. 3, 1946, in Montesano, Wash. They started a family and resided in Mayfield, Wash., and Mossyrock, Wash., until moving to Concrete in the summer of 1956, where they bought a house in Grasmere and lived there until a short time after Bill’s death in 1982.

Doris married Bob Spalding of Concrete in 1988 and they lived there and later Mount Vernon until his death in 1993. She later married M. E. Rowland in Mount Vernon and they resided in her present home in Mount Vernon until his death in Feb. 2006.

Doris was a superb salesperson and she enjoyed working at her Fuller Brush, Avon, Beeline, and Tupperware sales over the years. She worked at Albert’s Serv-U and at Lyman Market and at Pioneer North in Sedro-Woolley before her retirement. She had many friends and all of her kids and grandkids thought of her as not only a relative, but a valued friend. Doris was also the treasurer for one term for the VFW Post 5056 in Concrete, in the Women’s Auxiliary.

Doris and Bill raised four children. She’s survived by her two daughters, Anne (Verlon) Leopard of Lyman-Hamilton area, Barbara (Robert) Longenecker of Bethany, Pa.; her two sons, William (Sue) French of Concrete and Walter (Becky) French of Birdsview; stepchildren Marty Rowland and Shawn Forsyth; and her sister, Dawn. Also surviving her are her special friends, Al and Aletha Stone of Mt. Vernon, Brian and Kathy MacIntosh of Mount Vernon, June Rodgers of Mount Vernon, and all her neighbors and tradespeople she dealt with who all were great with her. To these people and the doctors and nurses who took care of Mom, we all give a big “thank you.” Doris was a people person, and we will all miss her greatly.

Doris was preceded in death by husbands William French, Robert Spalding, and M. E. Rowland; adopted mother Lillian White; stepbrother William White; twin brother Daniel White; birth brother Herb Noonan; and sisters Fay (Noonan) Spady and Judy (Noonan) Greeley. A graveside inurnment service was held Fri., Oct. 19, at 11 a.m. at Forest Park Cemetery, Concrete. Share your memories of Doris and sign the online guest register at www.lemleychapel.com

Published in Concrete Herald, November 2012.