Doris Marie Tyler was born January 24, 1932, in Akron, OH. The youngest of four children, she graduated from North High School with honors and attended Kent State University, majoring in Music. On April 20 1952, she married the love of her life, Matthew Hamilton Simon, at Wesley Temple A.M.E. Zion Church.
Supporting her husband’s army career, Doris moved several times within the United States and Europe. Over a span of 5 decades, Doris was not only a loving wife, mother of four, grandmother, daughter, and sister, she was an accomplished athlete, concert pianist, choir singer and director, nurse, and beloved and contributing member of every community she dwelled in.
While living in Stuttgart, Germany, Doris joined the U.S. Army Wives’ Softball Team. Batting 405 she won the Batting Championship for the Baumholder Strasburg Kaserne Cardinals, in 1960 and 1961.
Returning to the U.S., Doris taught piano to young children in El Paso, Texas and Lawton, OK. She also directed two separate youth choirs while living in Ft. Sill. Oklahoma and Ft. Bliss, Texas. From 1965 to 1967, Doris was a Performing Concert Pianist for the Lawton, Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra. She also received the Honorable Molly Pitcher Award from the U.S. Field Artillery Association. This national honor is given to one army spouse with exemplary sacrifice and community service.
While her husband served in Korea and Vietnam, Doris returned to Akron in 1964 and again from 1967-1968. During this time she worked for Dr. Samuel Watts as a Physician’s Assistant. Doris was also an active member of Wesley Temple A.M.E. Zion Church and sang in the sanctuary choir.
Moving to El Paso, TX with her family in 1968, Doris pursued her passion for medicine as a medical assistant graduate from the Bryman School. In 1970, she obtained her Nursing Degree from the University of Texas in El Paso and later became a Head Nurse at The Hotel Dieu Hospital. Under the mentorship of Dr. Melvin Fox, she began her career in Nephrology, gaining notoriety for her skills in Kidney Transplant Services and Home Care. Subsequently, Doris was promoted to Transplant Regional Coordinator for the Southwestern United States and eventually the Home Care Director for Dialysis for West Texas, New Mexico, and Eastern Arizona.
Because of her expertise in 1988 and 1989, the US government selected Doris to teach Home Care Nephrology to Physicians in St. Petersburg Russia and Beijing China.
Doris was also a founding member of The El Paso Chapter of the Links Incorporated and for a time served as President. She was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Whose Who of American Women.
In death, Doris is preceded by her parents, Gabriel and Nannie Tyler; brothers, Donald and Creighton Tyler; her husband, Matthew Hamilton Simon; and her daughters, Denise and Gayle Simon.
Doris is survived by her sister, Gabrieline Bell; sister-in-law, Ophelia Averitt; son, Matthew Derek Simon; daughter-in-law, Lisa (Wells) Simon; daughter, Doris E. Simon; son-in-law, Jeffrey L Wilson; grandchildren, Machele Johnson, Micah, and Matthew Aaron Simon, Cari (Washington) Kubli and Seth Kubli, Cimone Washington, Morgan Simon, Tyler Johnson, and Madison Wells-James; and great-grandchildren, Leila Raye and Savannah Kubli.