Obituary of Doris Myers

Doris Alfreda Schwartz Myers, of State College, died Sunday, August 19, 2012 at the Mt. Nittany Medical Center. She was born October 18, 1917 in Philadelphia, the daughter of Joseph Schwartz and Sara Goldberg Schwartz and sister of Alfred Edward Schwartz all of whom preceded her in death. She married Martin Henry Myers, of Philadelphia in 1938, he passed away in 1963. She was the Mother of and is survived by Joel N. Myers, Barry Lee Myers and his wife Holly, and Evan A. Myers and his wife Lynn, all of State College. She was Grandmother of and survived by Daniel Myers and his wife Gracianne, Sharon Myers Clapper and her husband Blaine, Erika Myers Heinz and her husband John, Lachlan Myers, Carla MyerSmith and her husband William Smith, Joseph Myers, Maxim Myers, Natalia Myers and Blair Larson all of State College; Rebekah Myers Berg and her husband Timothy of Claremont, California, Bradford Mason and his wife Tracy of Virginia, Adrienne Mason Johnson and her husband Peter of Philadelphia, Dmitry Myers of New York City, and Erik Larson of Pittsburgh. She was Great Grandmother to and survived by Alexandra Clapper, Benjamin Clapper, Harry Myers, Laura Myers, and Grace MyerSmith all of State College and Katharine Mason and Jonathan Mason of Virginia. A special addition to her family was Stephanie Ritter who because a caregiver, companion, helper, and devoted and loved friend for the last six months of her life. She was awarded a scholarship to the Moore Institute of Design in Philadelphia after graduating High School. The scholarship was based on scholastic averages plus a portfolio of her art work. She never used the scholarship because when it was awarded she was already fully employed in sales and design, making large window displays for retail stores At age 21 she married her High School Sweetheart Martin H. Myers. They were married 25 years, before his suicide in 1963. While raising her family she did free lance art work and established a business of hand painted ties, blouses, and scarfs. One of her many clients was Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Center city Philadelphia, On holidays she would be in the store and hand paint whatever customers wanted on their scarves and ties. Living in Philadelphia she became very active in the parents group at the elementary school where her sons attended school and was elected President of that group. She was active in local politics. She helped her husband in his real estate and insurance business, and obtained a Broker's License in insurance at that time. After her husband's death she went to work for a small independent insurance agency, then as a Field representative for the AAA Automobile Club as well as it's affiliate the Keystone Insurance Company. In this position she was a trouble shooter responsible for having all branch offices that were back-logged to become current. She later became a claims examiner for the Keystone Insurance Company in their center city Philadelphia office. From there she was employed by GEICO as a subrogation examiner and then was promoted to Operations Manager, with 30 employees under her guidance. After she was widowed she married and divorced three times. After her third divorce, in 1974, she came to live in State College to be near her family. Her very first job in State College was at Uncle Eli's art store where she sold and framed art work. For some time she managed the Commissary Restaurant, which was an affiliate of the Train Station Restaurant. She also obtained a Pennsylvania Realtor's License and she worked for the owner of the Allenway in State College marketing the very first town houses built in the State College area and also handled marketing for the Stowaway storage unit project both in State College and Lancaster Pennsylvania. She worked for Jim Williams, a Real Estate Broker in State College then for Neil Donahue and finally for Doyle Corman now Prudential Realty. She was also owner of The Designer's Den, a studio of Interior Design. As a member of the Centre County Board of Realtors, she created the first P.R. position and was head of that committee. She directed fund raising that made enough money to dedicate a room to the Centre County Board of Realtors in the Ronald McDonald House in Danville, affiliated with the Geisinger Medical Center. Nearly all Real Estate offices in State College were closed week ends when she arrived in the 1970's. She was responsible for them realizing the public advantages of opening week ends and holding "Open Houses" as was practiced in Philadelphia. Her paintings and pastels have been on public exhibition, including at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. She designed the original logo for AccuWeather Inc., at the request of her sons, which logo became nationally recognized. Once each year, for many years, she designed, painted and framed individual annual awards for AccuWeather employees. She was overwhelmingly proud of her sons and she never missed an opportunity to say so. She made a hand painted book containing many of her writings. Throughout her lifetime she wrote poetry and prose. She was concerned in the days before her death that she needed to get better and get home in order to finish her book of poems. She was active in various groups, including Mothers of a Boy Scout Troop, a Home & School Association, Groups for singles as well as widowed persons, and became president of each one of these groups. She enjoyed people and always looked for their better side. She always wanted to see the world be a better place and was never satisfied with mediocrity. She loved working and keeping busy. For many years she managed rental property for her son Joel Myers and then for her son Barry Myers, giving it up only at age 93, to better fight her health issues. She continued to work on her computer, on her writing and her poetry, until her death. She firmly believed that retirement was a deficit to life. She said that constructive activity was food for the soul. She learned to use a computer in her eighties and smart phones in her nineties, always searching the internet for the best doctors and other information. A celebration of life honoring Doris Myers will be held in lieu of a traditional funeral but her casket will be present as family and friends celebrate her life. Evan Myers will MC the event and various family members and friends will talk about her life. The celebration will be held on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 11am. The Jewish Community Center at 620 East Hamilton Avenue in State College has been kind enough to provide a venue to handle the many people who have indicated they would like to attend. Immediately following the celebration there will be light refreshments and opportunity to talk with members of her family. Following that everyone is invited to the home of Joel Myers at 605 West Hamilton Avenue for an informal reception from 1pm to 3pm. In addition, burial will take place in Philadelphia on Sunday at Roosevelt Cemetery at 1 PM. Both events are open to all friends and family. Should anyone feel inclined to honor her memory, please donate to the National Lung Partnership, to help find a cure for Lung Cancer in lieu of flowers or anything else. She was deeply involved in organizing an event for September 22 in State College to raise money for lung cancer. Below is a direct link to Doris' donation page. People can also access it using the step-by-step instructions or mailing the donation directly to the Partnership. Free to Breathe Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/FTBStateCollege Free to Breathe Event Page: www.freetobreathe.com - select the State College Event from the pull down menu and then select Donate to Participant and choose Doris Myers. http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR/RunWalk/General?px=1340703&pg=personal&fr_id=1590 Free to Breathe Event 1528 Walnut Street, Suite 910 Philadelphia, PA 19102 *Checks made payable to Free to Breathe - memo line should read "State College Event" Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Online condolences may be made at www.kochfuneralhome.com.