Doris Mason devoted her life to taking care of others.
As a school teacher, wife and mother -- and later as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and other charitable organizations -- she always put others first, said her son, James Mason, of Dormont.
Mrs. Mason died Monday, Nov. 20, 2006, in the Wexford House Nursing Center, McCandless, of an intestinal infection. She was 91.
Born in 1915 in Lakewood, Ohio, Mrs. Mason grew up during the Depression and went to college before the choice was the norm for most women, her son said.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin in 1937 and taught Spanish and French. She married her high school sweetheart, Jack L. Mason, in 1938, and the two moved to Chicago.
James Mason said his mother put teaching on hold to raise her two children and to support her husband, whose career in labor relations took the family to New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and finally to Pittsburgh in 1959.
"She did the mom and the PTA thing," James Mason said. "When my Dad got a new job, he would move into an apartment and my Mom sold the house, packed up and moved the kids to the new city. She stuck by him."
Mrs. Mason resumed her teaching career on a part-time basis when her children went to high school.
When her husband died from cancer in 1974, Mrs. Mason turned to volunteer work, something her son said she enjoyed immensely.
"She went from delivering food for the Brighton Heights Meals on Wheels to coordinating the volunteers to becoming manager of the place," James Mason said.
Mrs. Mason also did volunteer work for the Jubilee Soup Kitchen, Canterbury Place and Christ Episcopal Church in Ross. She also took some time to travel within the U.S. and overseas, her son said.
"She lived life as fully as anyone could live it," James Mason said. "She loved helping people."
Barbara Gourley, of Marshall, said Mrs. Mason was her "rock" after the death of her mother 10 years ago.
Gourley and her mother became acquainted with Mrs. Mason through their affiliation with Christ Episcopal Church.
"I talked to her all the time," Barbara Gourley said. "If something was bothering me or I had to make a decision, she was like a sounding board. She was open minded and had common sense."
James Mason said his mother continued to put others first even as her health was failing.
"She made a point of remembering everyone's name (at Wexford House Nursing Center)," James Mason said. "It was important to her to make those people feel comfortable. Her whole life was making people feel good."
Mrs. Mason was preceded in death by her husband, Jack L. Mason, and a daughter, Susan Mason.
There will be no visitation. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Christ Episcopal Church in Ross. The T.B. Devlin Funeral Home in Ross handled the arrangements.
