Doris Carlson

Doris Elaine Carlson, widow of George W. Carlson, passed away Sunday February 24, 2008 in Lincoln. The only child of Wilton A. Jr. and Flora Irene (Winfield) White, Doris was born April 12, 1919, in York, NE. She spent her early childhood on a farm southwest of McCool Junction. Doris’s father later worked as a carpenter at various locations in western Nebraska and Wyoming until his death at age 33, while the family was living in Newcastle, Wyo. After her father’s death, Doris and her mother returned to York. Doris graduated from York College in 1940. Doris married George Walter Carlson on June 22, 1940. During World War II the Carlsons lived in Buffalo, N.Y., where George worked for the U.S. Signal Corps. In 1945, the Carlsons returned to York, where George worked for Consumers Public Power District, and Doris was a substitute teacher and participated in various musical activities. In the course of George’s employment with CPPD (later renamed Nebraska Public Power District), the Carlsons moved to Lincoln in 1950, to Columbus in 1968 and back to York in 1972. Throughout her adult life, Doris was an active church member, singing in the choir and holding positions of leadership at Christ United Methodist Church in Lincoln and First United Methodist Church in York. She and her husband were host parents to several international students. Doris played cello from age 10 to about age 75. She had several cello students in York during the 1970s and 1980s. She was active in the Hospital Auxiliary and Church Women United and volunteered at York’s Hearthstone Nursing Home and Epworth Village. In 2004 Doris moved to Gramercy Hill Retirement Community in Lincoln.

Survivors: daughter and son-in-law, Janet Carlson and Raymond McIntosh, Lincoln; son Wilton (Bill), Oakland, Cal.; grandson, Abraham Joe Carlson Wetherell, Sarasota, Fla.; cousins, including Jean Bolton of York, and many friends.

Funeral services were held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, February 28, 2008 at the Metz Chapel with the Reverend Jeff Wulf officiating. It was Doris’s wish to donate her body to medical research which was done following her funeral service. Private family inurnment will be held at a later date.