Doris Ellen Dreier (nee Ferguson) was a true citizen of the world, yet wholly American at the same time. Born to Archer and Miriam Ferguson at Fort Riley, Kan. on the eve of the Great Depression, she grew up in the Army Air Corps living at numerous locations around the United States. The constant moves and uprooting during her childhood forged an inseparable bond between Doris and her younger sister, Thelma and brother, “Billie.” While Billie passed away during his teens, Thelma remained her closest and best friend until Thelma’s passing.
During one such move to Hawaii her parents met another Air Corps family also on their way to an assignment there. This family had a son named George and many years later, at the age of 19, Doris decided to marry him. Thirty more years of moves, in what was now the U. S. Air Force, ensued with exciting tours in Las Vegas, Japan, Hawaii, and Denver paid for with summers in Lubbock, Texas and winters in upper New York state and Massachusetts. During this time, three children were born. Her son George, Jr. (deceased) served in the Army for 11 years, while daughters Kathy Marie (Carmichael) and Karin Ann (Hopkins) both married Air Force pilots and continued her military lifestyle. She further embraced the 4 grandchildren her daughters gave her and thoroughly enjoyed watching her 10 great grandchildren grow through pictures and visits.
Retirement from the Air Force took Doris and George to New Braunfels, Texas, just north of San Antonio. Here, on the Guadalupe River in a home George built and she made, four generations of family and a large extended family enjoyed summers of water skiing, eating bratwurst and drinking an occasional beer. During her children’s and grandchildren’s travels around the globe, this home was always the one constant touchstone in their lives.
Doris Ellen Dreier, known to one and all as “Dodie,” passed away on Sunday, January 12th in Peachtree City, Ga.
She had been a resident here for 12 years, spending the last five battling the cancer that finally took her from us. Her final year was spent at the Towne Club assisted-living facility where she was truly a beacon in the lives of both residents and staff. She was always one of the first to greet new residents and show them around the facility – a tour which usually included meeting her Bermin cat “Aiko.”
Dodie has now returned to the familys traditional retirement home of San Antonio, Texas. She will join George at the Fort Sam Houston national cemetery there on Friday, January 24th at 10:45 a.m. Deeply moved during her life by the help that St Jude’s Children’s Hospital gives to children at no cost, the family asks for donations there in lieu of flowers.
We miss you, Dodie. You will always be the smiling face and loving wave from the dock as we went skiing by.
