Sunset Memorial Park & Funeral Home
(originally posted at Dignity Memorial)
Eleanor Louise (Cureton) Doran was born on February 2, 1921, to Ellen M. Doyle and Robert Frank Cureton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She died at the age of 101 years on January 25, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas.
She was the oldest of three girls. Her sister Edna died in infancy. Mary was four years younger than Louise and lived until the age of 77 years.
Louise lived the first six years of her life in Philadelphia and Collingswood, New Jersey until her mother died in 1927. Her father took her and her surviving sister Mary to his home in Columbia South Carolina, where they were placed in an orphanage. She lived there until she was 18 years old.
She met her future husband, Lt. Col. James Thompson Doran of Cohoes, New York at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1942. WWII had begun and she was a civilian volunteer with the Army Signal Corps. Her future husband was the trainer for that course. They were married in Columbia in November 1942 and had five sons, Robert, Thomas, Terence, Jonathan, and Edward.
She loved her opportunities to travel with Jim in his military career in the Army Signal Corps and U.S. Air Force. She lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, California, Florida, and Shemya in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. She also lived in Tripoli, Libya and Frankfurt, Germany.
Besides volunteering with the Signal Corps in WWII, she had learned to fold and pack parachutes for the airborne infantry. Her volunteer work continued with Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, twenty-five years with children with Cerebral Palsy, twenty-five years with Meals on Wheels, and in various capacities with children in elementary schools. She and her husband were active in square dancing for decades. She loved to sew, sing, and play piano. She took up line-dancing, Tai Chi, and ukulele in her mid-80s.
She, her husband, and family moved into Dream Hills Estates in San Antonio in 1966 and she maintained her home there for 54 years. Her husband Jim died in 1979 and she lived in the same home for the next 38 years until moving into A Golden Age Assisted Living for the final few years of her life. She had many wonderful friends and neighbors during those years.
Louise was preceded in death by her husband Jim, her mother Nellie, father Frank, son Robert, beloved sister Mary, and an infant sister Edna. She is survived by her sons Tom, Terry and wife Mary, Jon and wife Kathe, Ed and wife Valerie, grandchildren Liandra, Avery, Beth, Melissa, Ian and Audrey and several great grandchildren. She also is survived by nieces and nephews, and many wonderful friends and neighbors.
Special thanks to Daniela and Sam Butuza and the staff of Golden Age Assisted Living in San Antonio for the wonderful care that Louise received for the last years of her life. Thanks also to Dr. Michael Lichtenstein who served as her geriatric physician since 2007.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.sunsetfuneralhomesa.com for the Doran family.
Visitation
10:30 am – 11:00 pm
SUNSET FUNERAL HOME
1701 Austin Highway
San Antonio, TX 78218
Funeral Service
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
SUNSET FUNERAL HOME
1701 Austin Highway
San Antonio, TX 78218
Committal Service
1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
FT. SAM HOUSTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
1520 Harry Wurzbach Rd
San Antonio, TX 78209
