Our beloved Sister, Mother Grandmother and Great-Grandmother Doris Marie Gilmore-Rogers, 93, of Arkansas City passed away Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at the Presbyterian Manor Health Care Unit, after a long battle with Parkinson’s. Private family burial will take place and a Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date.
Doris, the second of eleven children, was born April 28, 1927, to Hiram and Irene (Buzzi) Stover in Newkirk, OK. She grew up and attended schools in Arkansas City, graduating from Ark City High School in 1945. After high school she attended Ark City Junior College (Cowley College).
On February 4, 1950, Doris married Thomas Gilmore in Arkansas City where the couple made their home. He preceded her in death in 1995. She later married John Rogers in 1997. He preceded her in death in 2010. Doris had a career in Insurance and Real Estate, working for various agencies in Arkansas City until her retirement. Doris enjoyed numerous activities, gardening, cooking, square dancing and especially sports. She was so proud of her sons’ many athletic accomplishments, following them around Kansas and beyond and eventually following Russ’ successful coaching career in Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. There was never a prouder mom!
Doris retired to Kaw Lake with Tom, pursuing their favorite activities of fishing and boating with their family and many friends. Winters in Harlingen ,TX with Tom and then John, gave her a new set of friends and activities to learn and explore. Her travels to China, South Korea, Alaska and more rounded out Doris’ adventures.
Doris was a true Renaissance woman, as comfortable with a screwdriver and a hammer, as she was with a sewing machine or a cookie sheet! Her family still displays the fruits of her creations, from paintings hanging on their walls, to Christmas stockings hanging on their mantles. She is remembered fondly by her grandchildren for her homemade strawberry ice-cream on hot summer days, birthday celebrations, riding mopeds, picking the garden and sunflowers in a cobalt blue vase.
Doris’ spirit lives on in her sons Kent Gilmore and wife Patty of Dayton, MN; Russell Gilmore and wife Debbie of Harlingen, TX; brothers Gerry Stover and wife Mary of Sapulpa, OK; Ronald Stover and wife Diane of Mt. Vernon, IN; her eight grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Doris was preceded in death by her parents, her two husbands, and eight brothers and sisters.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor ACPM Residents Council. Donations may be made through the Rindt-Erdman Funeral Home and Crematory, 100 East Kansas Ave., Arkansas City, KS 67005. Online condolences may be made at www.rindt-erdman.com.
To share a memory or send a condolence gift, please visit the Official Obituary of Doris Marie Gilmore-Rogers hosted by Rindt-Erdman Funeral Home and Crematory.