Doris Oliver, whose generous spirit, hard work and good humor made her part of the Shaw Island community over the past 30 years, died June 30 in a Seattle hospital following a brief illness. She was 78.
“Doris’s ability to make friends was extraordinary,” said Ralph Wedgwood, a longtime friend and neighbor. “With Doris, it didn’t matter who someone was. She just made friends.”
She was born Doris Elizabeth Everett on Nov. 3, 1927, in Santa Rosa, a third-generation Californian. After graduating from Oroville Union High School in 1946, she attended Mills College, then the University of California at Berkeley.
She married Thomas K. “Tim” Oliver Jr. in Oroville on June 18, 1949. His medical career meant a number of moves, which took them to New York City, Columbus, Stockholm, Seattle, and Pittsburgh. While in Columbus, they had two children, Katherine and Thomas.
Whereever they went, she made lifelong friends.
While living in Seattle from 1963 to 1970, Doris was a PTA volunteer at Lowell Elementary School and an education activist who helped organized a march of mothers from Seattle to Olympia to try to convince the legislature to fully fund K-12 education and eliminate the burden of having to pass annual operating levies.
When her friend Kay Bullitt of Seattle recalled the mothers’ march, she said, “It was January and we all had on these funny umbrella hats. We’d walk all day, then rush home to cook dinner for our families. Then we’d pick up where we left off the day before. It took us four days. I’m not sure the legislature paid much attention, but it was important to us to make the statement.”
Doris’ introduction to the San Juans was an August camping trip with the Wedgwoods on a friend’s Henry Island campsite. “There were 10 of us camping there all month, and Doris was the one who made it all click,” Wedgwood said. “We had such a good time we went back again the next summer.” That led to the four families purchasing 60 acres on Shaw in 1964. Virginia Wedgwood remembers the first time she and Doris set foot on the property, in pouring rain.
“Doris, the Californian, smiled and said: “This is just like Muir Woods. I love it!” Doris was often the first to invite island newcomers to dinner and frequently filled her house with friends and “strays” for holiday festivities. She was an excellent cook who loved cooking for her friends.
“Dinner at Do’s’ was always a special treat. More than 200 cookbooks crowd sagging shelves next to her kitchen, ranging from “The Art of French Cooking” to “Beard on Bread.” One cookbook’s title particularly captures her spirit: “Come for Cocktails, Stay for Supper.”
Doris also was an accomplished weaver and a member of the San Juan County Weavers Guild. She served many years on the county fair board, and gave her time to virtually every organization on Shaw, including the Shaw Island Library and Historical Society, Shaw Islanders Inc., 4-H, the Women’s Club and the Cemetery Board, and she often provided help to individuals in need. She made gifts for many new Shaw babies.
Doris is survived by her son Tom, his wife Becky Oliver and grandchildren Kelsey and Thomas Oliver III of Sumner, WA; her daughter, Kate Oliver, and grandaughter Emma Dixon of San Jose, CA; brother Henry Everett and sister Katie Larsen, both of California; and many loved cousins, nieces and nephews. Her deep devotion to family was clear from the photos of her family and friends which covered the walls of her home.
A memorial gathering will be held Aug. 12 at the Shaw Community Building from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Another gathering of friends will be held August 13 in Seattle at a private home (206-325-6353 for details).
Remembrances may be made in Doris’s name to three Shaw Island organizations – The Shaw Island Cemetery Association (PO Box 301), Shaw Inc, Landscaping Fund, (PO Box 443) or the Shaw Island Library (PO Box 844) — all on Shaw Island, WA 98286.
