Doris Gregg Smith Dies; RN in WW II was 102

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Thursday, 13 January 2022 15:29

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Doris Gregg Smith

Doris Gregg Smith, a former Sitkan, passed away from COVID on Dec. 25, 2021, Christmas Day, at North Cascades Health & Rehabilitation in Bellingham, Washington. She was a month from her 102nd birthday.

Doris Ruth Gregg was born Jan. 26, 1920, in Oak Park, Illinois.  She graduated from Dennison University, in Granville, Ohio, as a registered nurse.  She went on to serve as a nurse in the U.S. Army during World War II, stationed in France, and held the rank of lieutenant.

 It was in France that she met Tarleton (Tee) Smith, also a lieutenant, from Waco, Texas.  After the war, the two married, and in 1946 moved to Alaska, living first in Juneau, where Doris worked as a nurse and Tee worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All three of their children were born in Juneau:  Victor, Roy and Marilyn.

In 1952 the family moved to Petersburg, where Tee continued with USF&WS, and Doris worked as a nurse at what was then Petersburg General Hospital. Doris started the hospital’s X-ray Department – someone had given money to the hospital to build an X-ray department, but once it was finished, no one knew how to work it.  With permission, Doris sent off for a stack of books and figured it all out.  She was already an avid photographer and had developed film with her brother Donald when they were kids in Oak Park.  She was soon developing the X-rays manually in a dark room. (It’s all done by computer now.)   Doris was the only X-ray technician there for quite a few years.

In 1970, Doris and Tee came to Sitka where Doris worked as a lab technician, first for Dr. Dale Cloyd and then for Dr. Paul Lunas, until she retired.

Doris was an active member and volunteer at Sitka Lutheran Church, and was a member of  the Eastern Star, and Pioneers of Alaska.

She was an expert pie maker and baked countless pies – Alaska blueberry when possible – always with “from scratch” pie crusts, for fundraisers, competition and for the Sitka Centennial celebration. She was also in a quilting group at the church, led a Tai Chi class, and read one or two books a week into her late 90s.

 Doris moved to Washington State in her later years to be near family, and lived in Friday Harbor, Washington, near son Victor and his wife, Phebe.

 She was preceded in death by her husband Tee, in 2012, and by her son Roy Smith, of Juneau, in January 2021.

Surviving family members include:  son Victor Smith and wife Phebe of Friday Harbor; son Roy’s wife Johanna of Juneau; and daughter Marilyn Hendricks and husband John of Bellingham, Washington.

Grandchildren include Alexander (Alex) Smith (wife Rose), and Andean Lucas (husband Troy Miller), who are the children of Victor and Phebe; Kiersten Johnson (husband Mark), Amber Butler (husband David), and Dorian Smith, who are the children of Roy and Johanna; and six great grandchildren.

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