Doris English Henry

Doris English Henry

June 15, 1922 – January 9, 2010

She was born to John and Elva Allard on June 15, 1922, and raised on a cattle ranch near Norris, South Dakota.  Doris married Gaylord Edward English on August 23, 1943, in Lead, South Dakota.  They moved to Seattle in 1949, where they raised two children, son Ronald English of Bothell, Washington, and daughter Melody English of Boulder, Colorado. Gaylord died in 1974.  In addition to her children, Doris is survived by daughter-in-law Gail English, grandchildren Jeanine (Eric) Smith and Steve (Ruth) English, two great-grandchildren, Zoe and Wilson Smith, and sisters Jeanette Fiskum and Beverly Schweitzer, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Doris received BA and MA degrees from the University of Washington and taught art at Ballard High School in Seattle from 1966 to 1981.  In 1973 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.  During her year in England she studied local crafts and traveled extensively in Europe with her daughter Melody.

After her retirement from teaching in 1981, Doris’s next project was to design and supervise the building of a house on Camano Island.  She incorporated modern and Northwest Native American design to create an elegant home. The final touches on the home are the front doors and a totem pole carved by local artist Doug Granum. Doris moved to Camano Island in 1981 and married Lincoln Morgan Henry of Spearfish, South Dakota. They spent many hours in volunteer service for the Stanwood Public Library and the Camano Island Senior Center. Doris enjoyed spending time with Lincoln’s five Children, Lyn, Kim, Reed, Brad, and Tad.  Lincoln died in 1995.

From 2003 to 2009 Doris resided at Merrill Gardens Retirement Center in Mill Creek, where she leaves many friends.  At Camano Island Senior Center and later Merrill Gardens Doris took classes in creative writing. She started writing short stories of her life and collected these stories into a self-published book.  Another favorite class was the card-making class.  These classes encouraged Doris to continue to learn and create.

One of her other favorite pastimes was to walk from her apartment at Merrill Gardens to the nearby University of Washington bookstore, where she could combine three of her favorite passions: books, shopping, and supporting the University of Washington.  As a proud alumna of UW, she was very pleased that her son, granddaughter, and grandson all attended the university.

Throughout her life Doris had a passion to learn and guided others to discover new ideas. She explored various art forms: pottery, sculpture, basketry, gardening, photography, jewelry, bookbinding, macramé, calligraphy, quilting, fabric design, and writing.

A memorial service to celebrate Doris’s life and resurrection will be held at Merrill Gardens, 14905 Bothell-Everett Highway, Mill Creek, on Saturday, January 16, at 11:00 a.m.  Memorial contributions are welcome in lieu of flowers and may be made to Community Services for the Blind and Partially Sighted, 9709 Third Ave NE, #100, Seattle, WA 98115-2027, or www.csbps.com.

The LORD bless you and keep you;

The LORD make his face to shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you

and give you peace.