Doris W. Walker

Passed away peacefully at her Woodbrook home in Elmira on December 26, 2013, following an extended illness.Doris was born on January 4, 1920 in Elmira to Robert and Arlena (Snyder)Wright, andgrew up in their home on Mt. Zoar St., graduating from Southside High School in 1937,and from Elmira College in 1941. She began her teaching career in North Collins, NY, and later taught in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Waverly, NY. In 1938, Doris met Ernest “Bill” Walker, Jr.at the "Villagers' Ball" in Athens.They were marriedJuly 17, 1942 in Chattanooga where Bill was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority.In 1945, Doris and Bill moved to Waverly, where Bill joined his father’s business, Walker Motor Sales. In 1984, Doris and Bill began to spend winters in Sun City Center, Fla., returning to Elmira in 1999. In 1989, she began her next career, caring for her husband for 15 years following his debilitating stroke. Doris’s greatest love was the family time with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, shared at the family home on Keuka Lake and more recently at her home at Woodbrook. She was an avid reader and had a passion for bridge with the girls, in Waverly, in Florida, and in Elmira. In addition to her parents, Doris was predeceased by her husband Ernest S. Walker, Jr., her brother Donald Wright, son-in-law, Bon Edwards and her niece Nancy Ballinger. Surviving are three children - Diane (Walker) Edwards of Montour Falls, Ernest “Ernie” S. (Connie) Walker, III of Dryden, and Bob (Debra Kraemer) Walker of Thetford Center, Vt., her three grandchildren – Ernest “Sam” S. (Jeannie) Walker, IV of Chicago, Amy (Greg) Gatta of Villanova, Pa, and Jonathan Walker Edwards of Montour Falls, and her three precious great grandchildren - Georgia and Finn Gatta, and Molly Walker, her sister-in-law Eleanor (David) Grant, nephew Donald Wright, Jr., and nieces Rosemary Plank and Peggy Saunders. Doris was a sweet, warm, loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend to all and will be deeply missed. We thank the staff at both Woodbrook and Care First, her many caregivers, and her special friend Roxanne, for their care and attention during the past many months.A service celebrating Doris’s life will be held on Saturday, January 4, her 94th birthday, at Olthof Funeral Home, Inc. 1050 Pennsylvania Avenue in Elmira/Southport, NY. Calling hours begin at 1pm, with the service at 2 pm. Chaplin Meredith Tift will officiate. Interment will take place in the Woodlawn Cemetery at the convenience of her family. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Care First (formerly Hospice in Corning) 11751 East Corning Road Corning, NY 14830 or the First Presbyterian Church 1054 West Clinton Street Elmira, NY 14905. Doris's guestbook may be signed in obituaries at www.olthof.com