Doris Allison

Doris Louise Allison, age 98, died peacefully at her home on September 10, 2021.

Doris was born in Oklahoma City on January 23, 1923 to Burford Jeakins and Nellie Blanche Page. In 1943, she married Walter McDowell with whom she had a son, James Lamont. After an unsuccessful marriage they divorced and she later married Perry Otis Onstot in 1946. They moved to Asbury Missouri and while her husband taught high school she had three children, taught piano and was very involved in their small-town school.

In 1959 they moved to Baltimore, Maryland. When her youngest entered first grade, she began as a freshman at Towson Teacher’s College at age 40 and completed three years of study.  Raising four children and attending college kept her busy.

Seizing an opportunity when her husband was traveling extensively, her oldest was on his own, and her daughter just graduated high school, she packed the family’s belongings and herself and three children and moved to Grenoble, France, touring Europe in a Volkswagen convertible.

From France the family moved to Manila, Philippines where her husband had been reassigned. She taught at the American School in Manilla for five years.

Doris and children moved back to the United States in 1970, the marriage to Perry ended and she completed her bachelors’ degree in Education.

In 1974, Doris married the love of her life, Charles Thomas Allison and remained together until his death in 1990. Tom showered her with love, acceptance and belonging and added his five amazing daughters to the family.

Doris was an elementary school teacher for many years and received her Master of Arts degree in Education from Central Missouri State University.

Doris had a life-long love of traveling. In her 70 and 80s, she traveled throughout the United States in an RV with her own mother, children, and grandchildren.

When her mother passed away at age 99, Doris traveled on her own as a “Snowbird” to New Mexico in the winter months and met a loving companion, Dennis Carroll. They continued to travel taking cruises and driving across Canada until his death.

Her “can do” spirit and enthusiasm during her travels were truly inspiring.

Doris was many things - intelligent, beautiful, shrewd, but also loving, gentle, and kind to everyone she encountered. She was unforgettable to anyone who met her. She will be greatly missed.

Doris is survived by three children, Meri Lee Scagliotti, Debra Ann Clarke, and Jon Dale Onstot, as well as four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. In addition, she loved, and was loved by, her husband Tom’s five daughters from a previous marriage: Catherine Briggs, Helen Robinson, Patti Kellen, Elizabeth Allison, and Nancy Allison. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Tom, her brother Burford Jeakins Page Jr, and her son Jim.