[Colorado-Talk] Doris Willoughby obituary and service details

Thu Sep 16 19:22:29 UTC 2021

Greetings Federation family and friends,

Curtis Willoughby gave me permission to distribute this information about
Doris Willoughby's obituary and service details.

Attached and following is the obituary, and below it is the Zoom invitation
for the Celebration of Life service.

Doris Willoughby 

Doris Mellott Koerner Willoughby was born on June 29, 1936, in Easton, PA,
and died on 

September 8, 2021, in Lakewood, CO. She moved to Boulder, CO, with her
family when she was 

11 and graduated from Boulder High School as class valedictorian in 1953.
She earned a 

bachelor's degree in education from Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA, in
1957 and taught second 

grade in Cedar Rapids for 11 years. She met her husband D. Curtis Willoughby
in 1966. They 

were married on June 24, 1967, in Cedar Rapids, IA, and honeymooned in Clear
Lake, IA, Los 

Angeles, and Hawaii. The event in Los Angeles was the national convention of
the National 

Federation of the Blind, the first of over fifty NFB conventions for Doris. 

>From the time they met, Doris became a driver and reader assistant for
Curtis. Since he was an 

electrical engineer, perhaps the first blind electrical engineer in the
country, and most of the 

material he wanted to read was technical, Doris's assistance was extremely
valuable. 

During the school year 1966/7, Judy Young, a young blind woman, was seeking
a degree in 

elementary education from the State University of Iowa, but the University
had difficulty finding 

a place for her to do her student teaching. Doris volunteered to be the
supervising teacher and 

enjoyed the opportunity to work with Judy. Together they found techniques to
make Judy an 

excellent teacher. Doris received her certification in the teaching of blind
children in 1969 after 

studying during the summers and evenings and then began teaching blind
children. 

The Willoughbys moved to Des Moines in 1972, and Doris taught blind children
there until 

1993. Curtis was often asked to work on electrical and telephone equipment
at the Iowa 

Commission for the Blind, and Doris often assisted. Shortly after they were
married, she said 

with a smile, "I married an electric wire." 

In 1990, she received her ham radio operator's license. Her husband, mother
and sisters have all 

been hams. Doris continued to work with Curtis on many projects for nearly
30 years. 

Doris was an active member of the United Methodist Church and invited Curtis
to join. They 

continued in this denomination in Des Moines and in Colorado. 

The Willoughbys moved to the Denver area in 1993, and Doris received a
master's degree from 

the University of Northern Colorado soon after that. Doris taught blind
children in the Adams 12 

School District near Denver. She later taught blind adults at the Colorado
Training Center for 

the Blind, where she helped students prepare for citizenship and the GED
test, among other 

things. 

Doris was a pioneer and leader in the education of blind children for at
least 4 decades and wrote 

or co-authored 4 books on that subject. At its 50th anniversary convention,
the National 

Federation of the Blind honored Doris with its highest award in education:
the Distinguished 

Teacher of Blind Children Award. 

Doris was soft-spoken, kind, generous, creative, and hardworking. She was
preceded in death by 

her parents Margaret and Harold Koerner. She is survived by her husband and
her sisters 

(Margery Herrington of Pueblo, CO, and Marian Lord of Omaha, NE). There are
6 nephews and 

nieces and 9 great nephews and nieces. 

Doris was an important part of the Willoughby and Koerner families, her
church congregations, 

the NFB, and her communities and will be missed by all. A celebration of
Doris's life will occur 

at 1:00 pm on Sept. 18, 2021, at the Wheatridge United Methodist Church in
Wheatridge, CO. 

Memorial donations may be made to the National Federation of the Blind or
the Wheat Ridge 

United Methodist Church.

WheatRidge UMC is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Doris Willoughby Service

Time: Sep 18, 2021 12:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Service begins:
Sep 18, 2021 1:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87027962218?pwd=3DOG5IYmpGQ1J0aUxVUTF5dDhkNWs4dz09

Meeting ID: 870 2796 2218

Passcode: 582683

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,87027962218#,,,,*582683# US (San Jose) 

+12532158782,,87027962218#,,,,*582683# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 720 707 2699 US (Denver)

Meeting ID: 870 2796 2218

Passcode: 582683

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kiw675spZ

At your service,

Maryann Migliorelli

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210916/6dfca884/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: laura2-210913.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 519470 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210916/6dfca884/attachment.pdf>