Doris W Anderson

A Memorial Service for Doris Anderson will be held on Wednesday May 24, 2023 at 11:00am at the First Congregational Church in Brainerd. Friends and family are invited to gather one hour prior to the start of the service at the church. All are invited to stay for lunch following the service. At the request of Doris, you are invited to wear bright colors to the Memorial Service.

Doris was born in Chicago in 1927. She started school at Flossmoor Community School, and learned to read in first grade. After that, she read constantly until she got too old to see the book. Reading was the foundation for everything else that she accomplished later in life.

Piano lessons that began at an early age were another contributor to lifelong enjoyment. Doris accompanied musical groups and soloists while in high school in Ottumwa, Iowa, and also began singing during those years. Eventually, after graduating from Parsons College, Fairfield, Iowa, in 1948 and marrying Hal Anderson – they met on a blind date – she and Hal moved to Minnesota, locating in Brainerd in 1950.

Doris and Hal had three daughters; Chris (Kwong), Carla (Benjamin), and Kate (Canady), who survived, along with two grandchildren, Alan and Laura Kwong.

Doris was a public school music teacher in Brainerd elementary schools from 1963-1977, and also taught piano and voice lessons privately. In 1977 she realized that every fall she was a year older, while the first graders were still six years old, and her energy was diminishing. She retired from teaching that year.

After retiring from teaching, Doris began tape recording textbooks for MN State Services for the Blind, continuing this service until 2004. She also began reading aloud to residents of assisted living facilities in Brainerd, first as an Evergreen Reader, later with RSVP.

Another interest was community theatre. Doris was choral director for The Geritol Frolics for several years after it’s beginning in 1987, and she also appeared in a number of plays and musicals at Central Lakes College. Her favorite role was that of Bloody Mary in “South Pacific.”

Elderhostels were highlights of Doris’ retirement years. She and Hal attended Elderhostels from coast to coast, as well as Canada.

She was a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ, AAUW, Unlimited Learning, Crow Wing Co. Historical Society, and RSVP.

Cremains will be interred in the Memorial Garden at First Congregational Church, Brainerd.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Brenny Family Funeral Chapel, Baxter.