Doris Desdemona Cooper Harring Gurley 1916 – 2015
Our Aunt Doris died June 20th in Mt. Vernon, Missouri. She had been in the care of her great niece and her husband, Mary and Mark Adams, for almost a decade; her final few years were spent at Autumn Court Care Center, where her sweet spirit never declined. Doris was born on the north side of Springfield and attended Central High School. She married Don Harring on Easter Sunday, 1937, and when Don was accepted into the Army Signal Corps, they moved to the Northeast, where they lived until Don’s untimely death in 1950. Doris moved back to Springfield, eventually building a tiny home on Melville Road next door to her sister. After her second marriage to Sumner H. Gurley, manager of Ed V. Williams Clothing Co. and an avid orchid enthusiast, Doris moved back into town for a short time. Eventually the couple built a greenhouse at the Melville Road property and moved back there. Together they supplied orchids to the major area florists, and visitors to their home always went away with a beautiful flower. After Sumner’s death in 1976, Doris became active in the Schuyler School Community Center.
Doris was the daughter of Earl Osborne Cooper, Springfield’s first building inspector, and Ethel Evelin Thomas. Her parents and grandparents were charter members of St. Luke’s Methodist Church. She was the last of seven siblings to die, a whole generation to be mourned. All who knew Doris Gurley were the recipients of her “one good deed every day” philosophy, and she is missed. She is survived by many nieces and nephews from Florida to Arizona. Services will be held Saturday, September 5, at 10:00 at Greenlawn North Funeral Home