Doris Adams, 95, went to be with the Lord peacefully in her sleep on February 12, 2018, at the Westhills Healthcare Center in Rapid City, SD.

Doris was born December 16, 1922, in Fort Worth Texas, the third child and daughter of Clyde Nolan and Delphine (Jones) Ledford. While still young, she moved with her family to Southern California where she survived the great Long Beach earthquake of 1933. Later the family moved to Santa Monica where she graduated from Santa Monica High School. She met Edward, the love of her life, while working at Curry’s ice cream store on Venice Beach. She was 19 when they eloped, and they spent 51 wonderful years together until Ed’s passing in 1993.

Doris attended business college and worked off and on as a secretary for Douglas Aircraft and various school districts. But her main calling in life was as a wife and a mother. During the war, Doris decided she was not going to be left behind so she went wherever her Air Force husband was stationed which included Fargo, ND, and Denver, CO. Ed trained pilots so he was never sent overseas. After the war, they moved back to California where they raised three children, Edward Jr., Gerald (Jerry), and Jill. Doris was very loving and taught her children well with consistent discipline and kindness. Her family was always the top priority in her life. When her children had grown up, Doris spent her time serving at her church and with the Grandmother’s Club, and she enjoyed taking classes to learn painting and interior design. She also loved to sew, crochet, and needlepoint. Of course, when her five grandchildren came along, she loved to spend as much time as she could with them. In 2004, Doris moved to Rapid City, SD, to live close to her daughter and four of her grandchildren. She lived independently in her own apartment until she fell and broke her hip, a month before her homecoming. Doris was truly a Proverbs 31 woman: “The heart of her husband safely trusts in her . . . She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness . . . Her children rise up and call her blessed . . . Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

Doris is survived by her children, Edward (Georgia) Adams, Jr., of Winthrop, WA, Jerry (Jana) Adams of Casper, WY, and Jill (Craig) Mills of Rapid City; grandchildren Beau (Roxanna) Adams of Winthrop, WA, Julie (John) Marks of Portland, OR, David (Annie) Mills of San Diego, CA, Laura (Lander) Solon of Portland, OR, and Kevin (Liz) Mills of Brookings, SD; sister, Billie Mack of Stanton, CA; and niece and nephews, Pam (Bob) Bright of Las Vegas, NV, Ron (Terry) Mack of Garden Grove, CA, and Gary Mack of Los Alamitos, CA.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; sister, Marie Cieslak; and daughter-in-law, Irene Adams.