Doris Edwardine Smith Dryden, 91, of Baker City, died Jan. 14, 2005, at Settlers Park Assisted Living.
Services will be scheduled later at Escondido, Calif. Cremation was by Gray’s West Pioneer Crematory.
Doris was born Sept. 6, 1913, at Ottumwa, Iowa. She was the only child of Dorrance Edward Smith and Ruth Eleanor Schamp.
She and her parents resided in Ottumwa for several years before moving to Southern California.
When she was only about 4 years old, she and her mother spent several visits with her mother’s parents Maj. and Mrs. C.E. Schamp in Brownsville, Texas, where he was stationed as liaison officer between the U.S. Army and Poncho Villa of Mexico. Doris remembered meeting Poncho Villa and especially his carrying her over a foot bridge because she was afraid of the water below.
As a teenager, due to her parents’ travels, she elected to attend boarding school in Lancaster, Calif., where she developed a talent in dress design. After graduation she intended to work for well-known designer Don Loper, but chose instead to marry Thomas Dryden on Sept. 12, 1930. They were married more than 72 years at the time of his death in January 2003.
They took up residence in North Hollywood, Calif., where she became a homemaker and in 1933 their first daughter, Betty Jo Ann, was born.
In the late 1930s, Doris and Tom moved to Escondido, Calif., where their second daughter, Marcyne, was born in 1941. During their time in Escondido, Doris was very active as a member and officer in the Escondido Women’s Club, Garden Club and Elks Emblem Club. She also belonged to several bridge groups. She loved playing bridge, sewing and flower arranging. She won several awards for her flower arrangements at the San Diego County Fair.
When her daughters were grown, she went to work in clothing sales and was known as a great sales person with the talent to outfit her customers in the best fashion to fit their style.
She and Tom loved to go camping and socialize with their many longtime friends of Escondido. They moved to Baker City in September 1997 to be near their daughter and son-in-law.
Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Mickie and Skip Bell of Baker City; grandchildren, Dakin Bell and his wife, Erin, of Seattle, Wash., Stacy Bell of Portland, Sue Tessler and her husband, Marc, of Santee, Calif., Tomi Jo Giedeman of San Diego, Bob Giedeman of Escondido, and Laurie Madrid and her husband, Nick, of Ruidoso Downs, N.M.; nine great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Tom, in 2003 and their daughter, Betty Jo Ann Willman, in 1982.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, January 21, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor