Doris V. Foshee

Doris Vernell Foshee, of Kosse, passed away at Limestone Medical Center, on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at age 91. Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, April 26, 2013, at the First United Methodist Church in Kosse, with Pastor Jimmy Phillips of Rockdale and Rev. John Montgomery of Kosse officiating. Burial will follow in the Kosse Cemetery. Pallbearers will be John Wesley Lauderdale, Robert O’Neal, Bobby Suttle, Henry Kelly, David Hill, and Bubba Stone. Doris was born on September 16, 1921 to Edgar Collins Mitchell and Clara (Johnson) Mitchell at Kosse. She attended school in Kosse, and at age 16, she married Jack Bryan Foshee, Sr. in Kosse. As a very young lady, Doris became a telephone operator. The Foshee family ran the Gulf States United Telephone Co. exchange for Kosse and Bremond, and the switchboard was in Doris and Jack’s home. The switchboard was in operation 24 hours a day, and Doris had the phone numbers for every customer in her service committed to memory. Other local ladies who were switchboard operators included Nora Ensminger and Ruth Williams. Doris also sent out all the bills and made the collections in her home. After the phone system was changed to dial phones with headquarters moved to Groesbeck, Doris still maintained an office in Kosse, until she retired after more than forty years. Doris and Jack had two sons. She lost her husband in 1964, and after being a widow for almost twenty years, Doris married Jack’s brother, Herd McDonald "Don” Foshee. Although retired as a telephone operator, Doris still loved to use the phone all her life to talk with her family and friends, if she couldn’t talk to them in person. She never met a stranger and was always happy and enjoyable to be with. She loved to go to the farm to feed the cows and especially to see the baby calves as they were born. She raised a garden and canned her vegetables. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Kosse and was very active in the church, and sang in the choir. Doris loved all music, and her favorite musicians were Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, and Ray Price. Doris also loved to hunt and fish with her son Jack, and was very athletic whether fixing fence or climbing the fence to get to the tank. Most of all, Doris just loved to get out of the house and “go.” She made many trips with her brother Joe, including Hawaii, U.S.Highway #1 from California to Oregon, and the old Oregon trail. Also she enjoyed trips to Las Vegas with her son, Michael and friend Beth Hunt. Doris especially loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her great grandson Tyler, who called her “My Doris,” was her special buddy. When he came in from school he called “My Doris” on a frequent basis, to request a trip for them to Sonic. After Doris had moved into the Windsor Nursing Home the past few months, her great grandsons, Cameron Ingram and Kyle Ingram, showed their love for her with frequent visits there and also in her last days in the hospital. Doris was preceded in death by her first husband, Jack Foshee, Sr.; her second husband, Don Foshee; her son, Lester Michael Foshee; and her brother, Joe Ed Mitchell. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Jack Foshee, Jr. and wife, Virginia of Kosse; her aunt, (who was raised like her sister), Katherine Swinnea of Kosse; her special life-long friend, Christine Kelly of Kosse; grandson, Randy Ingram and wife Stephanie of Seale; granddaughter, Leia Hopkins and husband Raymond of Kosse; and four great grandchildren: Cameron Ingram and Kyle Ingram of Seale and William Jones and Tyler Jones of Kosse.