Obituary

Doris M. VanGelder

Doris M. VanGelder passed away peacefully at home in San Juan Capistrano surrounded by her loving and precious caregivers Heidi and Joyce, who called her “Mama”. She was 99 ½ years old.

She was born in Hesper, North Dakota, the youngest of the eight children of Margaret and Andrew Olson. Brothers Eric, Clarence, Henry, Edward and Albert, and sisters Clara and Hilma, loved their baby sister. They had enough players for a baseball team! From hardy Swedish stock, she spoke only Swedish until she went to kindergarten. She remembered the large vegetable garden her mom kept. She was fond of those homegrown carrots and potatoes.

At her Esmond ND high school, she played point guard for the girls’ basketball team. She received an associate degree and briefly taught school in a rural one-room schoolhouse. She followed her sister Clara to Chicago during WW2 and there met her husband Irwin (Ernie).

When Ernie enlisted in the Marines and went to basic training at Camp Pendleton, Doris followed and lived in San Clemente. They fell in love with the area and eventually relocated there in the mid-1970s. In between, Doris and Ernie raised two boys (Scott and Gary) and two daughters (Barbara and Kimberly). They lived in Elmhurst IL, Stamford CT, Houston TX, and Laguna Niguel.

Doris learned to love golf and playing cards with friends. She was fortunate to live along a golf course where she could watch golfers from her home when not playing herself. A trickster, Doris would find out-of-bounds golf balls and “play” with golfers on the course. She got to travel to Sweden to see her distant relatives and country. She attended Gloria Dei Lutheran Church for decades.

Her husband and both sons preceded her in death as did all her siblings. She has nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren living throughout the country. We thank O’Connor Mortuary for their kindness and professionalism with our family’s loss. No memorial is planned, and her ashes will be scattered in the Pacific Ocean so she may join her beloved husband. In her memory, please consider a donation to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Association.