Dorie Gillette

Our mother was born Doris Ann Heckendorf, but our father tells us that she preferred to be called Dorie, saying “Doris is not my name.” She liked “Dorie” because that’s what her “daddy” called her.

Mom was born October 27, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois, two days before the famous stock market crash, and was the oldest of three children. Her family left Chicago when she was around 10 years old and moved to Southern California. She attended her beloved Jordan High School, where she was a flag girl, and also headed WW2 drives. She met our father in high school and they married a couple years after he finished two years in the Navy. After high school, she attended one year of community college and then stopped to work in a bank, to earn money for their wedding.

She lived in and around the Long Beach area , finally settling down with our family in Los Alamitos and St. Hedwig’s parish in 1960. She loved reading and also worked for a few years as a public school librarian. Whenever things got rough, she always said she was going to Florida, and later Australia, to escape, but she never did.

Our parents would have celebrated their 69th anniversary next week. They have been blessed with 4 daughters, 15 grandkids, 17 great grandkids, and 4 great great grandkids. (36 total)

Mom was a strong woman with high expectations of everyone around her, especially herself. In 1966, when my father was training in New York to become a stock broker, she drove her four girls cross-country by herself to meet him there, and then drove all the way back home with us after he flew home to begin work. It was an amazing road trip that we will never forget.

Mom loved golf. She even played a little golf, but said she quit to take care of her girls. My father says that she was good at spotting talent in all sports, beginning with Arnold Palmer and, more recently, Andrelton Simmons. Mom loved being a homemaker. She was terrified of snakes and lizards but loved her gardens. She was faithful all her life to her weekly routines, such as grocery shopping on Thursdays, and was a prolific writer of notes to keep organized. She also gave her children and grandkids her love for baking, which she learned from her grandmother.

Mom was fun to be with and easy to share laughter with. She was a devoted parent and grandparent.

She also passed on her love of camping and the outdoors, that started in Lake Tahoe on her honeymoon, and let her girls have a dog when she was petrified of them. In her selflessness, she always wanted us to be free to experience things that were more fearful for her.

Mom was a devout Catholic. She loved Mary and prayed the rosary regularly. The spiritual life of my three sisters and I was as important to her as our health checkups & immunizations. We always attended Sunday Mass as a family and all of us received a Catholic education. First Friday mass, monthly confession and daily Mass and Communion during Lent were also important.

Our mother is deeply loved and missed.

Good night, sweet beautiful Momma. You had so much love for sooo much family through the years, plus your 69th wedding anniversary coming up next week. Our hearts are broken but overflowing with so many cherished memories left to warm them. We miss you already. Rest in Peace angel, we Love you so much.

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401