Doris Stevenson

Doris Zella (Lease) Stevenson, age 89, of Glendive, passed away on Sunday, June 13, 2004 at the Glendive Medical Center Extended Care Facility. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 P.M., Thursday, August 12, 2004 at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Glendive with Brother Guy Pontoriero officiating. Interment will be in the Dawson County Cemetery in Glendive. Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home of Glendive is entrusted with arrangements. Doris was born on the family homestead 5 ½ miles northwest of Intake, Montana, on August 10, 1914. Her parents were Charles Wesley Lease and Viola A. (Miller) Lease. Her parents obtained the homestead in 1908, coming from Fayette and Sumner, Iowa. Doris rode horseback a mile and a quarter to the Ladwig School on Murphy Table - a school her father helped build. She also attended and graduated from Dawson County High School in the class of 1932. She then attended Eastern Montana Normal School in Billings, now MSU Billings, and the University of Montana in Missoula. She taught at the Burns Creek School for three years during the Dirty Thirties. On one of those days, a dust storm came, so severe that one could not see to do school work. Doris sent the children home mid-day, telling the one who rode horseback to just leave the reins around the saddle horn, the horse would take him home. Those who drove a cart were not to guide their horse, it would get them home and the one who walked with no fence or trail to follow was to keep the "wind on that cheek.". Then turning to her 1936 Chevy, she wondered how she'd make it home. Driving by the tops of the telephone poles, when one was visible, she had a bridge to cross and some very bad places to navigate where the car could have easily rolled off the road. Her uncle became concerned about her and walked a mile and a half in the direction he knew she would be traveling. He did not see the car until he put his hands on it, two more startled faces could not be found. No one was hurt. Were those the "Good Old Days?" She also taught the Green Top School on the Twedt Table one year until it too, was closed for lack of students. She then taught in the Glendive School System at the Washington School for six years. In those days, one must teach four years in the country schools, take "all day tests", and have four interviews before being allowed to teach in the city schools. Also, teachers must not be married. Doris married Archie D. (Bud) Stevenson on October 23, 1943 in Billings, Montana and finished teaching that year and then joined her husband farming with her parents on their farm that they had been buying. Doris was active in church and community activities. She was a member and officer of the First Congregational Church of Intake where she served as pianist and Sunday School teacher. (She was the first baby baptized in the new church and her son, Lowell, was the last one baptized there.) She was a member and held offices in the Intake Ladies' Aid and the Intake Homemaker's Club. She was a member and officer of the Junior Women's Club in Glendive, a Rainbow Girl and a member and officer of the Grand Cross of Colors. She served on the Board of the American Cancer Society for more than 50 years, and was a life member of the Frontier Gateway Museum, and spent three years working at the Dawson County Book "Our Times, Our Lives." She had many interests, always seeming to have more things going on than she had time for. She loved farming, driving the combine, working with the horses and cattle, and gardening. She raised herb gardens in the house along with tomatoes and an orange tree that produced fruit. Geology was her favorite - rocks in particular. Her "Rock Room" contains many kinds of rocks from all over the world. Her many friends and relatives would always bring her a rock from their travels. She also liked to sew and embroider. Doris enjoyed seeing what could be done with strange things, like taming toads around a bug zapper, raising a horned toad in a terrarium, raising injured and abandoned deer making them tame enough to come in the house. She taught the first deer, Julie, to carry blankets and rugs on her back to the garden when it was time to cover garden plants in the fall. She also raised jack rabbits, wild ducks, turkeys, chickens and even a snake. The house was known as "The Ark". Doris especially enjoyed her children and grandchildren who also have homes on the family farm. She was so proud of them and the things that they did. As long as she was able, she attended every activity and program the five grandchildren were involved in. Doris was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, John Lowell and an infant granddaughter, Maggie Beth Stevenson. Doris is survived by her husband Bud of Glendive; daughter, Marilee (Ron) Markuson and son, Lowell (Lynn) Stevenson, all of Glendive; her five beloved grandchildren, Amber Markuson, Scott, Daniel, Laura, and Janna Stevenson; a sister, Ada (Bob) Harpster of Billings and numerous nieces and nephews.

Doris Stevenson

August 10, 1914 - August 12, 2004

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Doris Stevenson

August 10, 1914 - August 12, 2004

What We Do

Flowers & Gifts

Plan Ahead

About Us

Resources

Obituaries

Grief & Healing

Contact Information

365 Days of Grief Support