Doris Schauer

Doris May (McPheeters) Schauer was born on April 20, 1918, to Irvin and Allie McPheeters, in Webster City, Iowa.  Doris was the ninth born of eleven children and was the last surviving. She passed away January 26, 2019.
When Doris was a baby, her grandfather, father, and two brothers, Glen and Virgil, traveled by covered wagon pulled by two work horses, to the area north of Webster, Wisconsin, in search of a place to live.  Shortly thereafter, Doris, her mom and sisters: Maxine, Iola, and Aleene, traveled by train to join them.
When Doris was 16, she met Ervin John Theodore Schauer, the love of her life.  On October 17, 1936, they were married at the courthouse in Pine City, Minnesota.  They lived in two rooms in the Siren Hotel on Main Street, until they were able to build a home, the first house built, on the north side of town in 1940.  Doris and Ervin had six children, Paul, Wayne, LaVerne, Ervin Jr., Jean, and Julie, raising them together until Ervin’s passing in 1994.
Doris was an accomplished entrepreneur and "Domestic Engineer."  While raising her family, Doris was also a seamstress, making her and her children’s clothes.  She knit and/or crocheted many items including clothing, doilies, bedspreads, quilts, tablecloths, and many other items.  Doris’s knitting/crocheting skills were so professional, that she was known throughout the community, so much so, that people requested her to make sweaters for them.  Doris also helped local women (and their families), during pregnancies and after care, doing household chores and cooking.  She worked for two sisters who took care of the ill in their home on Crooked Lake, by assisting with housekeeping and cooking.  Additionally, Doris worked in agriculture at the Fredrick cannery, and also picking vegetables in the fields, sometimes towing two children along so she could work.  She also worked as a waitress and/or cook in various local restaurants.
In 1959, Doris and her friend built and operated the Fancy Freeze Drive-In.  After selling the Fancy Freeze in the fall of 1963, Doris continued to work as a waitress and/or cook at a local restaurant and would fill-in when needed as a cook's assistant at the Siren school.
Throughout the years, Doris enjoyed several hobbies including: fishing, gardening, canning, reading, traveling, and playing cards. She loved fishing by herself, but especially with her son, Wayne, and his son Tommy.  Doris and Ervin always had a beautiful vegetable garden for fresh eating, or canning.  Doris also had beautiful flowers in her garden, which she shared with everyone.  There were always fresh flowers in the house, even in the winter; she was blessed with a very green thumb and kept a garden and canned until she was 92.  In her later years, she had time to read novels, and heaven forbid, we call when she was deep in the midst of a good book.  Doris enjoyed traveling to California to spend time with her daughters, and go camping to areas which included California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and many national parks.  Other places she traveled included Branson, Alaska, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Montana, Canada, and the east coast.  She always enjoyed spending time visiting with her seven sisters and their husbands.  One could almost always find Doris, her sisters and nieces, and her daughters, playing a competitive game of Hand and Foot.  When her eyesight was failing, she became an avid radio listener, and she learned to enjoy the card game Golf.  She would play at any time, and asked anyone to join, including her insurance salesman, and was always ready to take your pennies.  Above all else, Doris enjoyed spending time with her family.
Doris was preceded in death by her husband; son; all her siblings; and many other family members.
Doris is survived by five children; 9 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren (3 step);18 great great-grandchildren.
Please refer to www.swedberg-taylor.com for service updates.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Swedberg-Taylor Funeral Home, Siren, WI.