- Date Of Birth: October 31, 1933
- Date Of Death: November 12, 2016
- State: Indiana
Doris Lenora Greene, 83, of Elkhart, passed away peacefully following a brief illness at the Center for Hospice Care in Elkhart at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12.
She was born in Runge, Texas, Oct. 31, 1933, to the late Clell M. and Sallie Bob (Moore) Blackwell.
She is survived by her sons, Steven (Brenda) Greene of Hampshire, Ill. and Craig (Laurie) Miller of Havana, N.D.; daughter Linda Tomlinson of Elkhart; grandchildren Rachael (Chris) Huffman and Jennifer (Mauricio) Sanchez of Elkhart, Justin Othick of Hampshire and Sarah (Brett) Ballinger of Enderlin, N.D.; six great-grandchildren; and a brother, Clell Blackwell Jr. of Grapevine, Texas.
A sister, Blanch L. Blackwell, preceded her in death.
Doris worked as an administrative assistant at T.R. Arnold of Elkhart for many years.
She was an avid women’s sports enthusiast, especially softball, and was a determining factor in bringing ladies fast pitch softball and ladies basketball leagues to the Elkhart area.
Although she was a self-made and strong-minded woman, she enjoyed personal time spent with her family and friends and was a devout animal lover.
She was a dedicated mother and grandmother and she never hesitated to make sacrifices for those she loved.
She adored her grand and great-grandchildren and was blessed to watch over several generations of her family.
Steven’s Eulogy
First of all I would like to thank everyone for making the trip to Indiana for mom’s funeral. It seems to be about the same time of year that dad’s funeral happened, so I’m getting to be a little bit less of a fan of fall as we go along. This year was a wonderful fall with above average temperatures. The colors really came out this year and predictably so did the Notre Dame fans to once again take up every room between here and Cleveland.
On behalf of Clell, Linda, Craig, Rachael,Jennifer,Sarah,Kathy,Diane,Mike,Sheryl,Bryan,Greg, all of the combined grand and great grandchildren I would like to thank you for coming so far for a friend/family who was so close. We lose our connection the ones we love very quickly in the course of a normal hectic business day. And for you to have the incentive to come and be with someone you feel a close connection with, means so much to our family.
Doris Blackwell Greene was born Oct. 31, 1933 in Rungee, TX. She was born during the first Great depression, her early childhood was during the Dust Bowl, and she attended school during the second World War. It was a very hard life in Texas at that time. Not many people had jobs, and everybody was struggling just to keep the family together and keep them fed. Blut since EVERYBODY was suffering it didn’t seem as bad because you lived it every day.
Mom said she met dad at a football game in Del Rio. Then they started going out.
The first memories that I have are of Mississippi and Mom and Dad living on the base. I vaguely remember mom’s gall bladder problems and she had to go into the hospital for the operation to remove it. I also remember being at Grandma and Grandpa Greene’s farm. Mostly it is memories of being in the bright white bath tub which seemed like a swimming pool. Every once in a while they would bring in a pan of hot water to add to the bath to warm it up. Even heating water was an ordeal back then, and we leave the hot water running now a days all the time. Then I begin to fill in more of the past. Next it shifts to Minneapolis where we lived in the white house on a slight hill with a long driveway. But I was small so everything seemed big to us at that point. We put mom through her paces even at that young age. We experimented with electricity, when I decided I could plug in the lamp with out the plug and just bare wires like dad did. I ended up on my butt and crying as usual. We also were exploring gravity and would launch ourselves off of various couches, beds, etc. Mom was always there to wipe away our tears and wash our wounds. Mom had a dream to see John F. Kennedy who was campaigning at that time in Minneapolis. She knew the day he was supposed to have a motorcade go right by our house. But as usual politicians follow their own schedules. So mom had been watching outside and we were playing in the dirt as usual. She went inside to take care of some chores and sure enough Kennedy’s motorcade came by. People were out on their lawns but it was earlier in the day than everyone had expected. One man yelled “When are you going to be in the White House?” JFK who was in an open convertible as usual, responded “As soon as you vote for me..” Now as kids we just got up and went back to the serious business of playing. Pretty soon mom came back outside to check the situation. I nonchalantly mentioned that it already had gone by. She said NO it’s too early for them to have gone by. She was a little upset thinking she was going to miss this campaign visit. About 3;30 in the afternoon which was originally was the time Kennedy was supposed to come down our street the motorcade finally came by again. That made her decade I’m sure. She really respected Kennedy’s plans and ideas for the country, and felt that the country would be a better place with him at the presidency. But I also remember the day President Kennedy was assassinated. I was on the bus with Linda coming home from school at about 2 oclock. We thought it was odd that the bus driver had the radio on, which he never did. Even as kids we kinda knew something was going on and we just shrugged it off. When we got home mom was crying laying on the floor in front of the TV. No matter how much we consoled her she would not stop weeping and she said that such a terrible thing had just happened. We held her hand until dad got home and was able to assure her that everything would be alright. Finally she got up, but she always carried that scar on her soul from when Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy. Many days of mourning by the nation followed as well as in our household. Mom always collected John F. Kennedy memorabilia. I think it helped her get through the depression that followed and she still has these items to this day.
Then the memories shift to Elkhart and living so close to Wayne and Kathy. In the house in Dunlap which the brothers built from basically nothing. Dad liked that house because he got to build it to his design. Dunlap was where we learned a lot as kids. We learned that the Wicked Witch of the West’s flying monkeys were very scary, you shouldn’t take bullets apart with the plyers while the baby sitter isn’t watching, Craig can’t climb the book shelves (not attached to the wall) without pulling them down upon himself and breaking his collar bone, and you shouldn’t run into the dining room to tell your mom that cartoons were on in the afternoon. I was as clumsy then as I am now. I tripped on a crack or something and went headlong into the table leg which was very square in shape. The blood and crying was instantaneous. My memories of the emergency room were guys with white masks, my mom telling me it was going to be ok, and them putting me asleep with Ether.
They would put a sheet over my face and then pour on the Ether then I would reach up and pull it off. Then they would put it back on, and I would pull it off. This went on for about 5 times, then I remember waking up at home.
The memories then shift to Prairie Street for a short time, and on to Lawndale and all the adventures we had there. Mom was engaged in every aspect of our lives so she was a friend and sanctuary to all our friends through out all of our school years. She had a special bond with Charlie Labauw. Charlie didn’t speak in our house for the first year he knew me. But he made up for it with all the pranks he pulled on mom. He setup an elaborate set of wires taped to the phones while we were gone. (another reason to lock your doors…) He then sent mom a letter from the phone company saying if you don’t pay your bill they were going to take the phone out. Mom laughed and when Charlie walked in and said she better pay the bill or he was going to rip the phones out. She told him to take a flying leap and he then reached over and ripped the fake wires out of the wall. Mom about had a heart attack, and Charlie is still laughing about it to this day. Mom played with us, laughed with us, and cried with us. She meant so much to so many kids and adults alike. She was their rock and their champion if need be.
People ask me to describe my Mother and I have to tell them that “The Swore like a Texan, shot like Anny Oakley, caught like Carlton Fisk, and played basketball like Michael Jordan.”
So let’s take those in order:
Mom could swear like a Texas Truck Driver when she wanted to. There were quite a few times that she expressed her displeasure to pretty much anybody within a fifty foot radius. The first of which was when the police officer picked me up for riding my new motor scooter. I got it for my 16th birthday and was trying it out with Charlie Labauw on the back by riding down Lawndale Rd. So when we got about halfway down the street we spotted a cop who also spotted us.. Charlie as a young man paniced and jumped off the back of the scooter and ran off into the bushes. Of course that didn’t look at all suspicious to the officer so he came over quickly. He didn’t want to hear of my birthday or my newest gift. He just looked at me and said we’re going downtown. Then he proceded to drive down Lawndale, and right by our house without stopping to tell my parents. As I rolled past the front of the house with all my friends and Craig and Linda watching my head peak out of the back window of the sqad car. I gave them a parade wave and they waved back, then the next thing I knew I was down at the police station. Having watched enough crime shows I knew I got one phone call. I thought of ordering a pizza. I knew what was going to be the first thing I heard on the phone when mom got to talk. Now volume was not adjustable on the phones at that time so it was pretty loud when she told me to put that SOB on the phone she wanted to talk to him RIGHT NOW. I simply asked to talk to dad and kind of mentioned that I might want to get my license someday, and so if we can just not yell at the policeman I would feel better. They then came down to the station and there was a lot of muffled screaming behind a couple of doors when mom got there. Then I got to ride home with mom and dad, and the policeman told me not to ride my scooter on the street without a helmet and a license. I think I got off easy.
Mom was a big fan cleaning those bad words out of your mouth with soap. Ah La Ralphie in the Christmas story.
I once had asked my sister Linda if she wanted a knuckle sandwich, and Linda and her friends misinterpreted my phrasing. They informed my mom that I had said an F’ing sandwich. The bar of soap lept into my mouth at light speed. Quite frankly at that age I really didn’t know or use that word and never had heard it used in a sentence. My defense did me little good.
We were taught to shoot a rifle at a fairly early age. Mom wanted us to know all the essentials of Texas life.
Firearms, and Horseback Riding. Mom was a dead shot.
She thought the hunters up north were barbaric. “Using a shotgun to hunt rabbits is just wrong.” She would say.
She preferred to use a 22 mainly because she could hit the rabbit with it. She didn’t want buckshot in her dinner. We all got to learn to ride a horse, and she would go out on the trail rides with us. The horse never gave her any trouble, neither did the guide. She could probably have hog tied him in less than 20 seconds and he knew it.
Mom was always amazed at how good Pappy could shoot. She said she could throw a tin can up into the air and Pappy could keep it in the air through out the clip. She would try and try and never could do it. So one day she just threw the can at him and low and behold he still kept it in the air… Arggg.
Mom was the most focused catcher I have ever watched or been trained by. At a very young age it wasn’t long before mom had us out in the yard throwing the baseball around and trying to figure out which arm you are going to be throwing with. It was quickly determined that all three of us kids were right handed and she proceeded to get everybody out to play and we magically got baseball mitts. We all had some form of a baseball career though the minor league, major league, an then through the Senior League, Linda played some fast pitch softball and was probably as good as we were when we were young and could have played baseball in the little league system as well. My mother enjoyed coaching as well. She loved to watch us practice and gave us little tips to help us get better. She would also watch us at our games and would give you a motivational/instructional comment from the stands. The first reaction you usually feel is to dismiss her, but that pretty hard to do when you know she’s actually a better ball player than you are. Mom really would battle with bad umpires. She knew the game and carried a rule book around with her. Many time she was ejected from one of our games not because she was incorrect but because they couldn’t take her unstopping criticism any longer. She would leave smiling and go and have a talk with the little league officers about the quality of the umpiring staff.
Mom was a force in her own right. She rubbed elbows with women who were in the Women’s Baseball League during the war. Wimp Bombgardener, and Bee were amazing players who had as much skill as any pro player I had ever met. They all would form an all star team to go down to state in Terre Haute. They gradually got better to the point where they were contending for the state title. Mom was warming up the pitcher Alice who threw pretty hard and put her mask on the plate in front of her. Mostly for show, she never caught without the mask. So when Alice fired in a warmup pitch it of course hit the mask and then mom’s face. She was gushing blood and checking for a towel. Wimp after a minute or so said “Spit the teeth out Dori, and wipe you nose.. Let’s get this game on the road.” She did just that. Personally I would have gone to the hospital.
We would always ask mom what kind of animals did you have for pets. She would respond Oh you know, pit bulls, raccoons, skunks, warthogs, you know the cute stuff.
All the most attention grabbing stories were the ones about the pit bulls and that they are a force to be recconed with. To be truthful Jake was a wonderful dog he loved us kids, and was always friendly. He would let you play on him and pet him, and he would always be giving us kisses. Later I figured out that he probably was just tasting us to see if I was tender enough to eat that day. That compares to when he was younger maybe a year or year an a half. They had to have custom made sewn harnesses made because they were trying out the harnesses with brads and Jake saw the postman (whom he hated!). Jake took off and jit the end of the chain. The harness exploded and he was coming at the postman fast. Luckly the postman had picked up a large rock which he hit Jake between the eyes with knocking him out.
Mom told of various ways to separate pit bulls from their victims. Usually it would begin by hearing a large commotion outside with a lot of growling and screaming. They would go out and find the dog usually disemboweling what ever four legged animal it had been able to chase down. If they were running around you had to catch them first and then try to separate the two.
Of course there was a lot of teeth, and pit bulls are notorious for not being easily distractable once they are having fun. They ususally tried tactics like hitting the dog with a 2×4 or trying to pick it up by the feet and at one point were swinging the dogs around in a circle. Then they ended up trying to stick a hose in his nose and that actually got him to let go enough or my uncle clell to grab Jake by the collar and flipping Jake over his back to get him off the other dog. But unfortunately for clell Jake reached straight back and bit clell in the middle of his back before he landed on the ground. Mom was able to grab the other dog and get it to the vet.
So she must have really loved those dog in spite of all the head aches that come with owning a pit bull.
Mom had a really good way with dogs she obviously wanted to rescue everyone of them they didn’t have a home so she wanted to give them one. She was able to foster dogs throughout our lives. One was an English sheep dog, we had a boxer at one point, and the one that got us hooked on dauchshounds was Schnitzle. Then I think we had another weiner dog named Babe. But the dog with the most personality was Tiger. The Pekinnese breed is very headstrong much like mom. Tiger was a small puppy when we got him and took mom’s heart as soon as she met him. Then he grew up terrorizing the cats constantly. He’s fast but couldn’t quite catch them.
Then he decided to mess with a german sheppard and had both his eyes were injured. But that didn’t stop Tiger. He was able to terrorize the cats by waiting until they would be playing in a paper grocery sack and then sit on the end and climb up and trap them in the end and jump up and down on them.
Mom and dad liked to go out, but mom wasn’t really much of a drinker. She like to go out with her friends Jane and Charles Borski. They wanted to go out for their anniversary to the L&H Inn. They decided they would drink Martinis. Mom got through 4 of them with out eating. So as the main course arrived mom passed out into her spaghetti face first. So they wiped her off and took her outside to go home. They had to prop her up on the light pole to get the car and slid down the pole showing everyone what she was wearing everywhere.
She was not moving until noon the next day and it took a few days for her to recover.
Everyone tells us that mom’s in a better place but to tell you the truth she couldn’t have it any better. She had her children or grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well as the pets and friends that loved her so much. She was blessed and she knew it. And deep down I know she appreciated everything that everyone of you did for her. She loved you all. Thank you for being so kind to my mother.
May God bless you all, and travel safely.
