Doris Lee (Taival) Patton passed away June 22.

Doris was born May 29, 1930, in Hawthorne, Nev., to Evangeline and Wenner Taival. She grew up in various Nevada towns, including Tonopah, Virginia City, and Hawthorne. Her father was a gypsy coal miner, and her mother did cleaning, laundry, and sewing to make ends meet in the tough, post-depression era. Doris was an only child and spent a large portion of her childhood reading whatever books she could access. She also loved to explore the desert, fish, swim in ponds, and play with dollies. She was moved from the fourth grade into sixth grade, ended up graduating high school at age 17, and marrying shortly thereafter. She would have four children, Donna Jean Mallars DeLange, Robert Larry Mallars, John Edward Mallars, and David Lee Mallars.

In 1962, she divorced and moved her family to Hines, where she made a living as a waitress at the Gayway Cafe. For the first time in her life, she had enough water to nurture a lawn, grow flowers outside, berry bushes, and big trees. She loved the forests and creeks in Oregon. In 1964, she took her children to Newport to see the ocean for the first time, eat crab (maybe for the first time), hunt shells, and play in the surf. The family camped and fished at every opportunity. In the fall, the children hunted with a mother who could sit on a stand, shoot a gun on spot, and gut a deer.

For the next many years, Doris worked for Jett Blackburn, located at that time in the building next to The Hilander. She made many friends in her new life in Oregon. Nevada slowly disappeared from her heart and desires to go back. In 1969, her daughter married and moved away for several years. Two sons were sent to Vietnam, one stationed in Alaska. She was alone for the first time in her life.

In 1970, she married John Patton, her husband of 44 years. John brought two sons, Jeff and Joe, into the family, along with numerous other Pattons that we all loved. Together, they built a successful logging business. They spent most of their 44 years living summers in the woods, close to their jobs, sharing space with bears, weasels, deer, elk, and whatever other critter that might check out their camp. They loved the outdoors and their lives in the trucks and on the landings. When they moved back into town in the fall and throughout the winter, Doris loved to cook, can, bake, experiment with new recipes, have dinner parties, and feed the masses. She was good at it. There was never a better lemon meringue pie sitting on a counter than the one you’d find in her kitchen.

John preceded Doris in death — having passed in 2014. Before losing him, they traveled the United States, not leaving many states unvisited, including Hawaii and Alaska. They spent a month in Italy and Austria, one of their greatest adventures.

It was difficult for her to be alone again. Her health slowly failed, and she could fight no more.

Doris is survived by her four children; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.

A funeral Service was held June 29, at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Burns, with burial in the Burns Cemetery.

Contributions in Doris Patton’s memory may be made to either the Wounded Warriors, the Ronald McDonald House in Bend, or to Harney County Hospice.