Doris Elaine (Piersall) Parker, 90, passed away Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Helena, Mont. She was born Sept. 2, 1931, in Greenleaf, Idaho, to Dewey and Nora (Emery) Piersall. She grew up in Greenleaf, Idaho, and Buckley, Washington. She graduated from Buckley High School in 1949.
She moved to Portland, Ore., where she worked for Consolidated Freightway and PIE trucking companies. Doris was married to Dewey F. Parker, Jr, a radio operator in the U.S. Air Force, on Aug. 1, 1953, in Portland, Ore. They were married by Doris’s oldest brother, Wayne Piersall; they were his first wedding ceremony.
They traveled during Dewey’s Air Force career living in South Carolina, California, Taiwan, and Washington. Doris and Dewey have three children. After Dewey’s retirement they moved to the Coeur d’Alene area where she worked as a real estate agent. They built a home in Athol where they lived until 2020.
Doris believed there were only two kinds of music: country/western and southern gospel. She loved to fish and hunted deer and elk. After settling in Athol, she began quilting and was a member of several quilting groups and the North Idaho Quilt Guild. She could eat at Taco Bell every day of the week. She said they “have the best food in town.”
Doris was preceded in death by her husband, Dewey, her parents Dewey and Nora, and her brothers Samuel, Wayne and Jerry.
She is survived by her sister Wilma Camilleri Cross of Vancouver, Wash. She is also survived by her daughter, Patricia (Mark) Pearson, PhD of Carlyle, Ill.; sons David (Karen) Parker, Col USAF (Ret) of Clancy, Mont., and James (Carrie) Parker, Staff Avionics Tech of Tacoma, Wash.; grandchildren Carolyn, Amanda, Nathan, Kristin, Aubrey, and Renae’; and great-grandchildren Haley, Spencer, Nolan, Emmett, Robert, Katie, Everly, and River.
Interment will be at Greenleaf Cemetery in Greenleaf, Idaho, later this summer. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Hospice of St. Peter’s Health, 2475 Broadway, Helena, MT, 59601.
