Please see ANNOUNCEMENT tab for the brief biography and obituary of Doris Soost.

Below are two special tributes:
..... from Doris' daughter, Debbie
..... from Doris' son, Chuck (Chuck shares in his tribute Doris Mae's aliases i.e. The Morning Fairy, The Queen of Looks and The Christmas Fairy!


********** A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO MY WONDERFUL MOTHER (FROM DEBBIE): ***********

Mom, my good friend Wes said to me when you passed, "I'm sorry for your loss Deb, but it's definitely heavens gain".

I so agree ... and I know there was a big celebration when you were welcomed.

I'll miss visiting and spending time with you, but I'm happy knowing you are feeling better than you have in years -- no sickness or pain.

In the last few months of your life, I found myself thinking often of the past and of the many wonderful memories I have. I am one of the lucky ones. I had two wonderful parents. That's not just a cliche or stock phrase for me; I mean ...
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Please see ANNOUNCEMENT tab for the brief biography and obituary of Doris Soost.

Below are two special tributes:
..... from Doris' daughter, Debbie
..... from Doris' son, Chuck (Chuck shares in his tribute Doris Mae's aliases i.e. The Morning Fairy, The Queen of Looks and The Christmas Fairy!


********** A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO MY WONDERFUL MOTHER (FROM DEBBIE): ***********

Mom, my good friend Wes said to me when you passed, "I'm sorry for your loss Deb, but it's definitely heavens gain".

I so agree ... and I know there was a big celebration when you were welcomed.

I'll miss visiting and spending time with you, but I'm happy knowing you are feeling better than you have in years -- no sickness or pain.

In the last few months of your life, I found myself thinking often of the past and of the many wonderful memories I have. I am one of the lucky ones. I had two wonderful parents. That's not just a cliche or stock phrase for me; I mean you were wonderful, wonderful parents. Both you and daddy were a huge influence in my life.

I remember with fondness the simplicity of our life when I was young; Church every Sunday and dinner every night together (you were a fantastic cook!) Remember how a big outing was going for a mug of root beer at the local drive-in. I also remember how you loved Christmas. I realize now how you sacrificed and saved all year long to make sure there were lots of presents under the tree.

I hope you know how much I cherish my happy childhood. I went to sleep every night with the certainty I was loved and taken care of. But I also was taught the values I still have today. As I told you, in a conversation toward the end, that EVERY good trait, value, attribute, and quality I possess was taught by word and example by you and Daddy and I'm so thankful.

Since Daddy died when I was only 25, I never had many adult years to spend with him, like I did with you. As you know, I was always a Daddy's girl growing up, but I became even closer to you as a woman. You were one of my best friends, for sure. I will miss your friendship very much. Those closest to you knew how much you gave of yourself to take wonderful care of daddy through his long illness and I fully appreciate it and thank you as I know he did.

I've been going through your Bible and devotionals, and on numerous occasions you circled thoughts from Corinthians. One interpretation I read, in your notes of 1 Corinthians 13-7, says this:

If you love someone you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him. (Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.)

If I were to summarize your love, that is it. You were ALWAYS unconditionally and without hesitation loyal to me and stood your ground in defending me. You always believed in me, always expected the best in me, and most of all I remember you always seemed so happy to see me when I walked through the door. I am certain that only God could love me more purely. Your devotion to me was also evident in your love for Nicole and my best friend Fayenelle. I know you were happy when I married Gary in 2014. You both have a great sense of humor and it was fun for me to share Gary with you and you with Gary. I was glad you were able to meet him and give your 'approval.'

In addition to all of that ... I had FUN with you Mom!!

Thank you for giving me your incredible sense of humor. I remember us laughing together at the best of times and in the worst of times. My life would not have been the same without that wonderful gift.

I always knew you were well liked, but it was after you moved to Arizona, that I fully realized how true that was.

EVERYONE ... from the other residents and staff at the independent living community, then assisted living facility, to the full-care facility and hospice LOVED YOU. They regularly told me so, and shared how you had uplifted them or encouraged them in some way.

I learned to love Christian music from you and I remember you sining in the choir at Church. A wonderful song I like is 'Hello after Goodbye' that says for all hearts of faith, we trust and know there is a hello after goodbye, a blessed reunion, promised in time where we will be with them far longer than we were without.

I know you reunited with Daddy and Mumpsey and Popsey, and I will see you all again. And I hope all of the dogs ... especially Peaches, Princess, and Stetson ... were there to greet you as well.

Do you remember how much fun we had through the years, disagreeing on whether animals go to Heaven! I don't know who had more fun in the game of debating it ... you or I. But I hope when I see you again the dogs are there, and I get the final laugh!!

Mom, you were loved and appreciated. I hope you knew that ... and you will be greatly missed.

Love, Debbie



********** A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO MY MOTHER ... aka the Morning Fairy ... (FROM CHUCK): ***********

The Morning Fairy

2234 N Oswego, no zip code, no area code just a party line shared with the neighbors and where I was warmly nurtured by Charles and Doris Soost in Tulsa, OK. My room was beside the kitchen and I was awakened by the smell of bacon cooking next door.

As my mother did every morning, I heard her say "LETS GO, GO, GO BOY, RISE AND SHINE!" IT'S THE EARLY BIRD THAT GETS THE WORM."

And as I did every morning, I proceeded to tell her, "I do not want any worms". Her standard follow up response was "Come on ... the bathroom is open and it is your turn" as she pulled the covers off me. I think the fact of a family sharing one bathroom is undervalued as I even have two heads on my boat. My mother had her usual routine and would not be deterred from helping me make my allotted time.

Returning to my room, the "morning fairy" had already visited, making my bed, laying out my clothes for the day and if I opened a drawer and I could probably find my clothes thrown on the floor the night before neatly folded inside. I can assure you as unappreciated as I was of that fairy, I have thought of her almost every day of my adult life looking at my unmade bed or disorganized clothing.

Then my favorite part of the morning, the morning fairy would ask , "what do you want this morning? Eggs? Pancakes? Waffle? How about cream of wheat or oatmeal? It will stick to your ribs and it is cold out there this morning". A personal short order cook with everything from scratch including the biscuits - kind of miss that too. Next the fairy moved on to a discussion of appropriate attire for the day, warm coat or yellow rain coat with matching yellow boots? If it was the least bit chilly or drizzling, the fairy would pack me up to be drive the two blocks to school. Many years later, I always loved telling my children that "I walked to school in the snow with no shoes". A fond memory was the stunned and mortified look on the fairy's face when my oldest daughter, Jennifer, relayed this story to her.

Doris - The Love Affair with Food & Laughter

As the weather warmed up in the spring so did my mother's kitchen, we were Baptist through and through going to church twice on Sunday and again Wednesday nights. Appropriate for a boy my age, I must have snuck in around 10,000 games of dots or tic tac toe in those services with a childhood friend. All the while my mother was observing with disdain as I paid no attention to sermons and yet she was tolerant as I was her son. Every Sunday had a happy ending as my mother would cook Sunday dinner; fried chicken, mashed potatoes, okra, green beans and fresh sliced tomatoes. To this day no one has ever cooked fried chicken as scrumptious as my mother's. The amazing cooking didn't stop there. Apple pie or peach cobbler would leave me walking away from the table about to bust as I headed down the street to play with my friends.

If you think I am describing my mother with food you are right and it is just as she would have it. Meals were almost magical with the tastes, smells, laughter and family around the table at dinner every night. God forbid, I would leave my hat on or be late for dinner. My mother had a wonderful sense of humor and loved our family meals. I would typically shoot off my mouth with some wisecrack to which she would say in a very stern voice "Charles (meaning my father) hit that kid". All those years of family meals, my dad would raise his right hand pretending to back hand me then I would jerk my head back and hit it on the window sill. Each of us at the table, including me, would laugh at the pageantry, as my father never hit me once, nor had intentions to.

The Queen of Looks
My parents struggled to put food on the table but we three children were the last to know. My mother cleaned house and my father worked several jobs to keep us going. One of my favorite meals was pinto beans and onions with my mother's corn bread or mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and a hot dog or sausage, staples of our diet. I often think of the simplicity of our meals when I eat out. The first time I remember eating out was my older sister Bonnie's wedding. I was nine or ten and my mother was so embarrassed as I ordered my first steak, the most expensive item on the menu. One of "those looks" never forgotten from my mother, she could be the queen of looks.

Summer brought trips to Aunt Pearl and Uncle Hirsch's farm in Blackwell, a multi acre garden which was hot, muggy and sweaty in August. The weather never stopped the worker bee in my Mom and Aunt Clemma who worked all day picking, canning and preparing for the freezer. One evening when we were all sitting down to dinner, my mother called for my little sister and started to wonder where she was. Without hesitation or time for thought, she yelled "Chuck". By her own intuition, she knew I was a guilty party. I confessed to locking my sister, Debbie, in the hay loft of the barn. Recall, my mother had a wonderful sense of humor, this was one time Doris was not amused. I could see my dad in the background trying not to laugh. After loading the car so full of vegetables and bags of cow manure for mother's flowers our car bottomed out on bumps, we head back for the stinky trip home for her only son to spread that manure.

Next came the fall, mother always found a way to get us new clothes for school and of course made us costumes for Halloween. My favorite was a lion suit of which I wish I had a picture, complete with mane and tail. I remember being on a street with hundreds of kids and having four large grocery bags of candy, having trick or treated all night. How could it be that my candy would always be gone in a couple of days but my dad had candy for months?

Thanksgiving my mother would cook for days. The spread of pies included but not limited to cherry, apple, pecan, mincemeat (she always made it for her favorite son), plus a cake or two. Our house was maybe 1000 sq. ft. but at Thanks giving it felt boundless. Special tables were set and what seemed like dozens of relatives would start arriving in the early morning hours cooking turkey and cornbread dressing mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce from scratch and wonderful dinner rolls.

I remember one particular Thanksgiving in the 1950s we were joined by Uncle Floyd, Aunt Clemma and the latest and greatest thing, Ready Whip in a can. Aunt Clemma, being from the farm, had never seen anything like Ready Whip before. She started to spray it and didn't know to take her finger off the sprayer to make it stop. Whip cream was all over every one as she froze and panicked. It was the hardest I ever saw my mother laugh and one of the funniest times of my childhood. I will always remember that radiant smile on my mother's face. The queen of looks smiled and smiled often.

The Christmas Elf

That brings us to Christmas, the time of year my mother was in her all her glory and perhaps the most joyful. There was never such a thing as two much Christmas for Doris every year , she had more parties, more decorations, more cooking, more love and more joy passed along at this special time of year. Mom really should have been appointed an official elf. Beside her was my dad constantly trying to figure out which light had burned out and following orders for decorations inside and out. I remember with wonder from childhood all the gifts under the tree and somehow in all their struggles, always getting what I had asked for Christmas.

My senses take me back to ham and turkey, sweet potatoes, from scratch dinner rolls, green beans, her son's favorite mincemeat and rhubarb pies, cookies of every kind and shape and of course fudge and brownies. All made with enjoyment and the heart to please and bring joy to others. My mother, the chef, loved that we recalled Christmas as such a jubilee and food was such a special part of it. I think I only ate sweets for breakfast at Christmas time. I carried on her love affair with Christmas and see it in both of my daughters as well.

I was fortunate to spend my mom's last Christmas with her. We made it special with talk of Christmas' past, how happy she was with her life. At 96 years old, on her way to 97, my mom felt truly blessed. We spent Christmas Eve driving around Scottsdale and Phoenix looking at the light displays. We talked for what I am sure was a very late night for Doris and most enjoyably, I got a few of her "looks" along the way.

My mother and I had a special hug and kiss good bye as I left after Christmas. We both knew it would be our last. She stays with me through the unmade bed I keep, the food I cherish, my own love affair with the Christmas spirit and the unconditional love I have for my children.

I told her then as I tell her now, I love you and will love you always.

Your favorite son,
Chuck

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