Doris passed away on the evening of November 5, a couple months shy of her 93rd birthday. Funeral services will be held at the Charles R. Lux Family Funeral Home on Saturday, November 16. Visitation will begin at 1:00 with a service at 2:00. Memorial contributions may be made in Doris’ name to the Isabella County Commission on Aging. Born on New Year’s Eve, 1926 in Sharon, Pennsylvania to James and Martha (Klebengot) Burkhart, Doris was delivered by her father because the doctor got stuck in a snowstorm. After graduating from Turtle Creek High School alongside siblings Joanne (Kerr), Jim, and Paul, Doris married Emerson Miles in 1948 and had her first child, Marilyn. Life took a tragic turn when Emerson was killed in a freak accident in 1953, leaving then-26-year-old Doris a widow. She took a job at the Westinghouse plant as a secretary, and managed life as a single mother until she caught the eye of a young Marine named Bill Hawkins. The two were married on March 24, 1956 in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, and they immediately embarked on a years-long cross country journey as Bill completed post-graduate work for his Ph.D. They lived in Illinois, Virginia, Tennessee, and California before finally settling in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Along the way, Doris and Bill had two more children, Forrest and Barbara. Later in life, Doris would remark, “It was an adventure. I guess we did it all.” Doris had many roles throughout her life; she was a community activist, philanthropist, realtor, and family historian, to name a few. The titles in which she took the most pride, though, were wife, mother, and “Nana.” Doris was always happiest when hosting family and friends in her home. She was the life of the party and a consummate storyteller (and was never deterred if her audience had already heard that particular story a few times before.) People were drawn to Doris because she was a deeply kind and empathetic person; qualities she forged during the harder moments in her life. Doris was preceded in death by her parents, by Bill, and by all of her siblings. She leaves behind children Marilyn Sweeney (Jim), Barb Palmer (Ray), and Forrest Hawkins (Nancy), and grandchildren Patrick Sweeney, Renay Palmer, Corey Palmer, Jake Hawkins, Billy Hawkins, and Billy’s fiancé Megan Aldrich and her daughter Andraya. Although Doris will be greatly missed, she left a bit of her joy and resilience in every life she touched. Her impact will long outlive her.

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