Doris Joachims

Doris Marie, was born June 5, 1927 in Waynoka, Oklahoma. She passed away March 15, 2013 in Oklahoma City. Her dad worked on the railroad and therefore traveled and moved. Doris graduated from High School in Wellington, Kansas, another railroad center. In 1946, Doris was a new high school graduate, and Max Joachims was recently discharged from the US Navy. They met each other at an amusement park in Denver named Elich Gardens. Although Max was a native of Dacoma, Oklahoma, they had never met each other before that night. Doris married Max on October 2, 1946. They lived for a short time in Dacoma with Grandma Joachims and then moved into their first house in Alva. Due to the social norms of the day, Doris was a stay-at-home housewife and mother. Over the years, she participated in many church and charitable capacities, and wound up traveling many miles in the Northwestern, Oklahoma, plains to attend meetings of all types to support those groups of which she was a member and/or an officer. During her life, Doris had a wide variety of interesting experiences. She worked at the Montgomery Ward office in Alva for over a year…a position she had never held before, and which she worked at while she was pregnant with her third child. She helped with the books at the Shalloup’s Packing Plant, and for awhile was the main bookkeeper. Many nights she was busy finding one penny or 27 cents in order to balance the books and go home. Her year on the federal grand jury was note worthy, especially considering she didn't even know how to put gas in the car before then. She served for 12 months on the Grand Jury, making the trip to downtown Oklahoma City and back by herself on the back roads, and staying in a hotel room for one week or more each time. She lived in a number of houses, not just the first house, in Alva, all of their married lives, and actually built their own home near the high school and the swimming pool when their third child was 5 years old. In March of 2011, Doris moved to Oklahoma City and moved into an apartment at Quail Ridge Assisted Living. Over the next two years, she made a number of new friends who gradually became familiar with her style of dry wit which one staff member called “a funny kind of cranky”. She seemed to be at her happiest when she could engage someone in a friendly war of words where she steadfastly refused to smile. Therefore, her nickname, to some at least, was “Smiley”. Doris passed away at the age of 39, having been that age for a very long time. She was preceded in death by her husband Max; three siblings, Nadine, Jeannie and Lonnie. Doris is survived by, Brian Joachims, Norman, Oklahoma, Janice Sheffield, Fullerton, California Gary Joachims, Edmond, Oklahoma Billie Miles, Denver, Colorado, Brent, Bradley, Craig, Julie, Sandra, Christine, and David, Andrew, Timothy, Jennifer, CJ, Anthony, Sawyer, and Enrique. PDF Printable Version

Doris Joachims

June 5, 1927 - March 15, 2013