Doris May

Doris May, of Ottumwa, formerly of Webster City, died on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at Vista Woods Care Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. The family will receive friends and relatives on Monday, February 3, 2020, from 9:00 - 10:00 A.M. at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, followed by a Funeral Service at 10:30 A.M. The family has chosen Boman Funeral Home (www.bomanfh.com) to care for their needs.

Doris was born on December 30, 1926, in Davenport, Iowa to Oscar and Gertrude (Schebler) Petersen. She attended grade school in Davenport and high school in Mason City, Iowa, graduating in 1945.

In 1953 Doris married Melvin May in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 14, 1953. Doris and Melvin moved to many cities in Iowa due to Melvin’s employer, William Brothers pipeline. Doris has worked at the switchboard at Northwestern Telephone in Mason City and in the office of the Independent Telephone Company in Clear Lake, Iowa. She has also had employment at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Houston, Texas, and the Standard Oil of Indiana office in Chicago, and as a Nurses Aid at the Hamilton County Hospital in Webster City, Iowa. She loved children and watched many children over the years.

After retirement, Doris and Melvin wintered in Florida, Texas, and Arizona for eight winters. During the summers, they vacationed at rented cottages in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Melvin died in 2006. In her spare time, Doris enjoyed knitting, reading, walking, and volunteering her time with Meals on Wheels. Doris attended the Catholic Church.

Her family includes her daughter Gwen (Gary) Twedt, of Ottumwa; sons: Greg (Marcia) May of Webster City, IA; and Gary (Brenda) May of Drakesville, IA; grandchildren: Lyndsey Twedt, Allison (Josh) Lacey, Andrew May, Brandon (Breta) Asklund, and Megan (Dean) Schreiner; 6 great-grandchildren: Jordan, Jeffrey, Drayton, Jakob, Lucas, and Van; sister Suzanne Petersen of Phoenix, Arizona, and brother-in-law David Reider of Leesburg, Florida.

She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, sisters Nancy Miller and Carol Reider and brother-in-law Roger Miller. Memorials may be made to St. Thomas Catholic Church in Webster City or Vista Woods Care Center in Ottumwa, Iowa.