Three days before her 96h birthday, Doris Comeal Snodgrass passed peacefully on Sept. 10, 2017, at Montgomery Place nursing home in Independence, Kansas.
Doris was born September 13, 1921, on the family farm near Perrin, Palo Pinto County, Texas, to Lorenza Dow Murray and Vera Essie (Broom) Murray.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother L.D. “Bill” Murray of Weatherford, and her husband of 38 years, Lester E. Snodgrass.
The family spent two years in California during the Great Depression, and 90 years afterward Doris vividly remembered that trip across Arizona in a Model-T, camping out, and the wonder at seeing the desert, mountains, and her first view of the ocean. Many adventures would follow, as she forever-after loved to see new places.
So, Doris first attended school in Santa Monica, then returned to Perrin where she graduated high school, then finished cosmetology college in Dallas, and worked as a beautician until marriage to H.L. Skinner in 1939. While H.L. served in the Army during WW II, in the campaign for liberation of the Philippines, Doris worked in a defense plant welding airplane fuselages.
Upon returning to the farm with their two children, she opened Perrin Dry Goods store. Living in Mineral Wells after the War, she met and married Travis Edgar in 1946, and weeks later a neighbor’s fire spread to their home and shop, leaving them with only what they wore.
They started over in Albuquerque, NM, then it was on to Nevada to mine turquoise, and later to Tarzana, California where they set up a new lapidary shop and made jewelry.
Four times Doris resided in Winnemucca, working at Sonoma Inn, Mackie’s Star Broiler, and a fast-food takeout she started.. She and Les managed restaurants in the Ferris, Model T and Red Lion casinos, then opened a restaurant on Kietzke in Reno.
Doris resided briefly in Fernley, Lovelock, and several other towns and old mine sites and ghost towns.
She operated a tourist station-café on Immigrant Pass, and an RV court in Battle Mountain. A few years were spent in other states: Caney, KS, Monida, Montana, Parma and Twin Falls, ID, and Hattiesburg, Miss.
Finally she returned to the roots her pioneer ancestors had established in Texas before statehood. She opened an antique store in Weatherford. If she loved an item, she would keep it awhile, then sell it, never becoming attached to material things.
She traveled light through this world, packing little more than her mother’s quilts and a small box of photos when setting off on the next adventure.
Following son Harold to El Paso, she opened another antique shop together with Les’ sign shop. Doris & Les drove all across America and Mexico. She kept busy hunting antiques, oil painting, crafting,sewing, and cooking for family.
Doris is survived by her daughter Helen (Alfred) Gonzalez, and grandson A. Glen (Tonya) Gonzalez of Winnemucca; great-grandson Brandon G. (Cindy Ceballos) Gonzalez, great-great-grandson Brayden Cooper Gonzalez, and great-grandson Corbin Lee (Karen) Gonzalez of Reno; grandson Harold Bret Gonzalez, Reno; son Harold L. Skinner of El Paso; grandson Brian Harold Skinner and great-granddaughters Brook Hayley Skinner and Rachell Elayne Skinner of Lexington, SC; grandson Craig Lee Skinner of Cortez, CO; grandson William S. Cruz of Norfolk, VA; granddaughter Susie (Edson) Rojas, and great-grandchildren Isabella and Edson Rojas, Jr. of Houston, TX.
October 10, 2017, (which would have marked the 50th anniversary for Doris and Les), is the date Doris’ cremated remains were interred beside Les’ in Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso.
Following the ceremony, family and friends gathered for a Celebration of Life in remembrance of Doris Murray Snodgrass. Doris was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS.
