Doris J. Schwingle

“Do not weep for me, for I go where music is born.” -JS Bach

Doris Jeanne Welton Schwingle died on 14 December 2023 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. She was 81.

She was born Doris Jeanne Welton on 26 August 1942 in Holyoke, Colorado to Lawrence Arnold Welton and Marjorie Eggenberger Welton.

Doris grew up in Sterling, Colorado, where she graduated from Sterling High School in 1960 and Northeastern Junior College in 1962. She then studied Education; Psychology; and Sociology at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, graduating in 1964.

In 1965, she married John Edward Schwingle of Muscoda, Wisconsin. Together, Doris and John raised three children in several places, as John served in the Air Force. The Schwingle family settled in South Berwick, Maine in 1980.

Doris went on to have a successful career as a teacher of primary and middle school students. She spent her life helping students learn, grow, and thrive. She taught English and reading at Noble Junior High School in Berwick, Maine, and she worked with the theatre department to produce plays and musicals, often accompanying on the piano.

Doris was a talented musician, and she contributed her considerable skills to her church family wherever she went. She sang alto in the church choir, and later skillfully directed it from her pipe organ perch in the choir loft at the First Parish Federated Church in South Berwick, Maine.

Doris retired from teaching in 2006. She and John left Maine and retired to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Doris was an active member of Olivet Lutheran Church on French Island.

Doris is survived by her siblings, Karen Lynnette Park of Kearney, Nebraska; Brian LeRoy Welton of Sterling, Colorado; and Catherine Louella Motter of Queen Creek, Arizona. She was preceded in death by her son, John Steven Schwingle, who lost his life to cancer only weeks before she did. Doris is also survived by her daughters, Stacey Marie Schwingle and Susan Lorraine Schwingle Sweazey; her daughter-in-law, Kathleen Mary Powers Schwingle; her son-in-law, Joseph Anthony Sweazey, as well as her three grandchildren, Emma Grace Schwingle, Lauren Dianne Schwingle, and Nicholas Bilyeu.

A Celebration of Doris’s Life will be held in 2024 with the exact date to be announced later.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred and can be made directly to Doris's family. A donation will be given, in Doris's honor, to her favorite charity.