Doris Moulton Cook Toole Goff of Edgartown died Feb. 24. She was 93.
She was born on June 3, 1920 in Pawtucket, R.I., to Carrie and Alfred Cook. With her brothers Alfred (Bud) and Frank Cook, and her sister, Verna Brierly, it was a lively household.
Doris married Thomas E. Toole and together they had two children, Richard and Diane. Thomas suffered from severe depression as a result of his service in World War II and was hospitalized much of their married life until his death in 1968. For many years, Doris worked as the secretary at St. John’s Church in Barrington, R.I., alongside the Rev. Owings Stone. She did a fabulous job as a working mom and her children never wanted for anything.
Summer vacations were spent on Martha’s Vineyard where Doris’s mother had purchased an old Victorian cottage in the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association. Inevitably the cottage was full of Richard and Diane’s friends, who Doris gamely entertained packing picnics and chauffeuring them to the beach. At the end of the day, everyone looked forward to feasting on her famous shepherd’s pie.
In 1972 Doris married Francis S. Goff, a widower and old family friend with two sons, Peter and Brad. Doris left her job at the church and focused her energies on supporting Fran’s career and knitting the two families together, never forgetting a birthday or holiday celebration. She was also dedicated to her volunteer work at St. Andrew’s School and St. John’s Encore Shop. Doris and Fran loved to travel and had a great life together until Fran’s death in 2000.
Eventually Doris moved to be closer to her children. Her last two years were spent at Long Hill on Martha’s Vineyard with wonderful, devoted caregivers.
Doris is survived by her daughter Diane Burt and husband Denis of Plymouth, son Richard Toole and wife Marney of Oak Bluffs, stepson Peter Goff and wife Judy of Granby, Conn., and stepson Brad of Exeter, R.I.; her grandchildren Noah Burt and wife Amy, Darcy (Burt) Sabel and husband Jeff, Garrett Burt, Chelsea (Toole) Barbini and husband Ryan, Taylor Toole and fiancee Jen Hirsch, Corey Goff and wife Shelley, Kevin Goff, Shannon (Goff) Ball and husband Jamie; and great-grandchildren Zoe and Xander Burt, Brody and Evan Sabel, Taylor and Phoebe Barbini, and Genevieve Goff and Joseph Ball.
A burial and celebration of Doris’s life will be held on June 7 at 11:30 a.m. at the Forest Chapel Cemetery on Nayatt Road in Barrington, R.I.
Donations may be made in her honor to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, 111 Edgartown Road, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.
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