Doris Kramer Herbes Horn's Obituary
Doris Kramer Herbes Williams Horn was born on January 8, 1938 to Senator Foster Kramer and Ruby Mae Powell Kramer of Toombs County Georgia. She was number six of nine children. They lived on one hundred sixty acres of land that Senator and Ruby had purchased. The crops they grew were mostly cotton and tobacco. It was only the family who worked the farm, it was a hard life. The house they built when Doris was four years old had no electricity, and no bathroom. They had an outhouse they used for toileting and at night a chamber pot. They took a bath once a week in the kitchen in a metal tub that they had to fill with hot water heated on the wood burning stove.
Doris had three older brothers, Foster, Floyd and Thomas (Tom), they all joined the Air Force at age seventeen. At that time, High School only went through 11th grade. They had to have parental permission to sign up for the military. Her older sister, Janette had health issues and wasn’t able to work in the fields. Her sister right above her, Barbara died at eighteen months old while Ruby was pregnant with Doris.
Due to these circumstances, when Doris was old enough to work in the fields she was the oldest child living at home who could work the fields. Her younger brother below her, Billy worked with her. The two youngest siblings a sister, Jo Ann and her youngest brother, Dale hardly had to work the fields because they were the “babies”.
Electricity was finally installed when Doris was twelve years old. The bathroom was added on when she was a senior in high school. As Doris worked in the fields she would always say to her brother Billy, “I’m not going to marry a farmer and pick cotton the rest of my life”. Doris thought there must be an easier way to make a living.
As soon as Doris graduated from High School she moved to Savannah and got a job working at General Electric. She rented a dorm room at the YWCA, which also included two meals a day. One evening in early September of 1956, Doris attended a dance that service men attended also. This is where she met Harley Glenn Herbes. She had seen him once before and when she saw him that evening she went up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. Doris asked him if he would like to dance, Harley said yes. They spent the rest of the evening dancing and talking. Over the next few weeks they spent as much time together as possible. On September 16, Harley asked Doris if she would marry him, and she said yes.
Doris had to have her appendix removed, so she went home to the farm for the surgery. She showed her parents the ring Harley had given her, and told them she was engaged. They asked her what his last name was and she realized she didn’t know. It didn’t matter to her. When Harley came to the farm to meet Senator and Ruby, they fell in love with him too. Harley and Doris were married on December 23rd 1956.
Harley was born in Poke Nebraska, on July 19, 1937. His family owned two Newspaper businesses in Poke. When he was seven, the family sold the Newspapers and moved to Burbank California. After High School Harley joined the Air Force and was stationed in Savannah. The Air Force transferred Harley back to Travis Air Force Base in California six months after he and Doris were married. They packed up their
belongings in the car Harley had bought with five hundred dollars his father had sent to him and drove to California.
Doris was homesick for her family at first, but Howard and Alice Herbes made her feel at home and they loved her as much as Harley did. Doris and Harley were very happy; she worked as a secretary and enjoyed her job, while Harley worked at Travis Air Force Base. Harley was assigned to the Air Force Fire Department. They were tasked to burn off nuclear waste left over from World War ll. It was after this that he and his whole squadron became sick. Harley was diagnosed with what they called a cross between Hodgkin’s and Leukemia. It was from radiation poisoning. He was told he had four years to live and that he was sterile, he was just twenty one years old. Harley proved the doctors wrong; Doris gave birth to Michele Ann in 1961. They had been married for five years. Harley lived a total of nine years instead of only four. He died on January 8, 1968, the day Doris turned thirty.
Doris often said she lived a Cinderella fairy tale life with Harley. After he was discharged from the Air Force for Medical reasons, they moved to Burbank. Harley went back to work at Disney Studios and Doris worked until Shelly was born.
Howard and Alice traveled all over California for Howard’s job, so on Friday afternoons Harley would pick Doris up after work and they would drive or fly to where ever Howard and Alice were that weekend. They always stayed in the best hotels and the four of them would go out for a nice dinner then out dancing Friday and Saturday night. On Sunday they would go back to Burbank. Spending so much time with Howard and Alice, Doris truly grew to love them and they loved her.
When Harley died he, left Doris and Shelly well taken care of. The house was paid for and there was plenty of money in the bank from life insurance, along with monthly checks from Social Security and VA benefits for both Doris and Shelly. Doris went back to work in a medical lab part time, while Shelly was in school. She didn’t have to work; she just wanted to stay busy.
Doris met her second husband Billy J Williams from a neighbor; he was a Burbank Fire Fighter. BJ was hurt on the job and received early retirement from the Burbank fire department. Doris and BJ were married in May 1969. BJ decided to go back to school to become a chiropractor, Doris worked full time and put him through Chiropractic College. After BJ graduated Doris, Shelly and BJ moved to Hawaii.
In Honolulu, Doris went to work for Costco Pool Supplies; it was a family business that was rapidly growing. She enjoyed working there and they were very good to her. BJ went to work in a chiropractic off that one of his teacher’s from LA had opened up in Honolulu. A year or so later BJ opened up his own practice. He would bring home the bookwork for Doris to do at night. After he had built up enough patients to support them without Doris’ salary from Costco Pool Supply, Doris went to work in the office with BJ and their practice became very successful.
Doris and BJ worked together building a very successful business. They drove from Hawaii Kai to Pearl City six days a week, building their business. They worked long hours and the drive was becoming a chore. They sold their house in Kalama Valley and moved out to Pearl City.
Their chiropractic practice was very successful. However working together every day, living together, never going anywhere but to work was putting a strain on their marriage. Instead of growing together, they grew apart. They never went anywhere, they had no social life and BJ refuse to attend church. Doris had always gone to church and she longed to go back to church.
They decided to sell the business and separate and eventually got a divorce. They remained friends and BJ often helped Doris with home improvement projects in the condo she bought.
Doris attended real estate school and received her license to sell property in 1989. She began working in Real Estate. At a camp out with co-workers in 1990 she met Bill Horn; he would become her third husband. Bill worked with another real estate company.
Bill and Doris were good for each other. They enjoyed camping with their friends and co workers in real estate. They camped at Bellows every Fourth of July. This group of friends became a close group of friends. They did this camp out for over thirty five years. The reason they stopped this annual get together was because of Coivd.
Every Friday afternoon Bill took Doris to Hickam Air Force Base for Happy Hour. They had yet another group of friends that they met every Friday. Bill was a very outgoing friendly man, he seemed to love meeting new people and making new friends, Doris loved this about him as she was also a very social person and loved meeting new people and seeing friends.
Doris and Bill also took a ball room dancing class and made many good friends within that group. The class was once a week in Aiea and on the weekends they would get dressed up and go to the Palladium down at the Ali Wai golf course and meet their friends and dance to the ball room music. They would all go out to eat after and socialize. They really enjoyed dancing together and spending time with the friends they made from their class.
For many years, Bill would sponsor the group for Easter Sunday Brunch at the Hale Koa hotel or at Hickman Air Force Base. They truly enjoyed these friends they had made taking the Ball room dancing course.
On Sundays Bill and Doris attended St Timothy’s church. This was what Doris loved best about Bill, that he loved God. It was at St Timothy’s that Doris met Jeanne and Wally Inouye, who became very dear friends to Doris.
Attending St Timothy’s Doris and Bill discovered that many of their friends also attended St Timothy’s. Some were real estate co workers/camping friends, some were from their ball room dancing class, and many were from the Happy hour “Gang”. Some were even former patients from the chiropractic practice. They also made more new friends from church. After the Sunday service, they would gather in the social hall for a pot luck meal. Doris loved baking various cakes and pies. Her pecan pies were everyone’s favorite.
After a couple of years working in real estate, Doris decided it wasn’t for her. She applied for an office job at Kapiolani Hospital as a book keeper/biller. This is how she met and worked for Dr. Angela Pratt
and Dr. Lynette Tasi. She loved working with numbers and she loved working for these two young and upcoming doctors. These two ladies were very good to Doris; she loved them both very much.
Bill and Doris eventually got married in 2008, and were together for a total of twenty five years. In 2014 and 2015 Bill fell a couple of times and Doris was having some health issues. Their housekeeper became sick and keeping up with the house and yard became more and more challenging. Bill had stopped driving so that meant Doris had to do all the driving. They were clearly slowing down.
In October 2015, they decided to move to the Hawaii Kai Retirement Community. It was a beautiful place built in the valley on Kawaihae St. It was like a five star hotel. They made the adjustment easily. They moved into a two bedroom, two bath unit with a full kitchen, Full size washer, dryer and AC. The electric, cable, maid service, and three meals a day were included in the rent. Also included were many exercise classes offered daily, a full functioning workout room and a pool with a snack bar and showers.
The community also had buses that had wheelchair access. They went to the three different shopping centers in Hawaii Kai and to Kahala Mall. The bus would also take a resident into town where ever they needed to go and then pick them up again. You just had to sign up a day ahead of time.
Doris and Bill made new friends easily and enjoyed going into the dining room for their three meals a day. For Bill it was like Happy hour at Hickam three times a day every day. Bill loved riding the exercise bikes and would spend hours riding the bike. There were craft activities, bingo games and candle light dinners.
Doug and Shelly sold the condo in Aiea and moved out to Hawaii Kai. They bought a condo very close to the retirement community. This way Shelly was able to help them daily with whatever they needed. Shelly went over daily and did their laundry, ran errands for them, did whatever they needed her to do. She also drove them anywhere they needed to go. They were truly enjoying living in this retirement community.
At the end of January 2016, Doris fell and was taken to Trippler. They thought she had a heart attack. She had an irregular heart beat which was a side effect from the prednisone she had been taking for crone’s disease. Her doctor had been prescribing it for almost thirty years. The ER at Trippler ran several tests and determined she had not had a heart attack. She was released and went home. They had prescribed a new anti acid pill for her to take. In the middle of the night she became ill and called Shelly and 911. The paramedics said it was probably the new pill and she should sleep it off. Doris was frightened and wanted to go back to the hospital.
Back in the ER at Trippler, they ran all the same tests, then admitted her. Doris became very ill. She wasn’t able to keep any food down. After a week she was released to a rehab center with a “stomach infection”. After a week Shelly took her to Queens ER, they admitted her and on x-rays found barium residue. The Barium was from tests done up at Trippler. It normally leaves your system within forty eight hours. It was going on two weeks that it had been in her system. The doctor at Queens showed Shelly the x-ray and said it was poisoning Doris. He asked for her health directive and said she probably wouldn’t make it.
Doris wasn’t very coherent, she wasn’t eating and Shelly was devastated. Shelly was bringing in baby food and bottled water, trying to get Doris to eat and drink. After a week one morning when Shelly came into the hospital room Doris was awake and sitting up. The doctors were amazed that she was recovering. After another week Doris was released to a different rehab center. She had to stay there for six weeks. While in this rehab center, Doris was taken off all the prescription pills she had been on. This ended up being the best thing for her. Her blood pressure went down, the blood clots in her legs disappeared, her ankles were no longer swollen and her hands were no longer swollen and stiff.
When Doris was released from rehab, we changed her PCP as she was no longer under Tri Care. We chose Dr. Silva at Queen’s Hawaii Kai. He was good with her being off all the meds. The only prescription she still seemed to need was the prednisone. Dr. Silva tried weaning her off but whenever she got down to 5 mg she would lose her motor skills and cognitive abilities. He felt that because she had been on it for so long, at her age it was better to keep taking it at a low dose. So she continued taking 10 mg a day.
This situation with Doris was very hard on Bill; he was dealing with health issues of his own. Bill’s family decided Bill should move to Texas to live with his son. The apartment was packed up and at the end of March 2016 Bill left for Texas. A studio in the lower building at HKRC was rented for Doris. Upon her release from rehab in April 2016 Doris moved into her new home to live alone. Shelly was there every day assisting her any way possible, keeping her company, she didn’t want Doris to feel lonely. Bill and Doris spoke on the phone regularly; they kept in touch until Bill passed in September of 2018.
Doris began to make new friends and she ate her meals with many different people until she met Earl and Henry. When Earl moved in he asked Doris if he could sit at her table, they soon became good friends. Henry moved in next door to Doris a few months later and he joined Earl and Doris at their table. The three of them became very good friends; they ate all their meals together.
When Henry’s daughters would come in to visit, they would all go out for lunch, Shelly and either Leora or Laurie would take Henry and Doris out for lunch. During Covid, they looked out for each other.
During the Covid lock downs, Shelly continued to visit Doris daily often twice a day. The Covid protocols made coming and going challenging and time consuming. The residents were not allowed to leave their apartments, maid service was stopped, and meals were delivered to their apartments.
After Covid, the exercise activities were not resumed, many changes had been made and the place no longer had the quality feel to it. The wonderful managers had been let go and new owners brought in people from the mainland. It went from a five star to a zero star.
In February 2021 Doris moved into the Condo Shelly and Doug had bought at the Mauna Luan in Hawaii Kai. Doug and Shelly then rented another unit in the same building. This was the best thing for all three of them. Shelly would spend most of the day with Doris. Shelly prepared and ate all three meals with Doris. Doug joined them for dinner and a game of Yahtzee every night. Then while Shelly cleaned up the dinner dishes, Doris and Doug watched Wheel of Fortune, it was her favorite show. Shelly would stay with Doris until she was ready for bed, then she went up to the unit they were renting.
Initially Doris and Shelly would often go out to lunch with friends and Doris continued to go to the beauty salon every week to get her hair done. She also went out for pedicures and manicures. It was the best thing ever having Doris live there. Doris fell a couple of times and in home physical therapy was arranged. This helped Doris to regain her mobility. However she didn’t want to go out in the car anymore. She was afraid of falling again.
On January 25, 2024, Doris fell again, this time she went to the ER in the ambulance. She had bumped her head and said she felt like she broke her back. The ER experience was horrible, while on the bed a nurse came in and tossed her lap top onto the bed by her ankle, it grazed her ankle and caused a skin tear. The neck brace put on by the paramedics left her neck black and blue. At the hospital the staff man handled her to take the x-rays turning her this way and that. They ran some tests and after three hours determined she was fine, no broken bones and, no concussion.
They released her to go home. Shelly was able to find a wheelchair transport van to take Doris home. Doris hadn’t used the toilet while they were at the hospital, so Shelly asked if they could put a diaper on Doris for the ride home. While completing this simple task, the male nurse tore the skin on her upper right arm. She was in worse shape than when she arrived. The next day while on the phone with her PCP Doris told DR. Silva the ER staff had treated her like a piece of trash. She told us she didn’t want to go back to a hospital ever again.
After a few weeks of bed rest, in home physical therapy was resumed with the same therapist Doris had previously, (Doris liked Jason very much). However this time she didn’t respond the way she had in the past. She began eating less and less and didn’t want to get out of bed. Shelly had been sleeping in the living room since Doris had fell and rarely left Doris.
At the end of February Dale, Doris’ youngest brother came to visit. She rallied somewhat and would get out of bed with assistance and come out to the front room. She seemed to be improving. At the end of May Doug, Doris and then Shelly all caught a cold. Doug and Shelly recovered within a week, for Doris it took longer, her cough lingered. Doris finally stopped coughing by the middle of June. It had taken a toll on her strength.
Shelly’s very good friend Zelah who is a hospital doctor suggested that Doris get in home hospice, she gave Shelly a list of five hospice companies that she felt would be good choices. Shelly called Dr. Silva and he said of the five he liked Navian, while on the phone he filed the paper work, and then submitted it. Navian called the next day, Wednesday July 10, 2024 and came out to asses Doris. Doris was accepted by Medicare that day. A social worker came the next day, and a case nurse the day after that. On Monday July 15, the case nurse assigned to Doris came to meet Doris and Shelly. They both liked Megan very much.
Doris had started coughing again, she had no energy. Due to her irregular heartbeat, her pulse would often go up as high as 180. This had been going on for a long time; initially she would be able to break the cycle by bearing down while holding her breath for a few seconds. She was no longer able to do this. As she grew weaker, her pulse remained below 100.
Megan came once a week to check on Doris. The standard hospice prescriptions were filled for Doris, to be used when needed. Doug and Shelly never left Doris alone; one of them was always with her. Shelly had been sleeping in the front room with Doris in the bedroom since January, after Doris fell. Doris had a whistle she was able to blow, when she needed something. Sometime in the week of August 5, Doris began having difficulty swallowing; she would often start aspirating when eating and even when drinking water. Shelly gave her very soft things to eat, lots of fruit smoothies, with protein, collagen and fiber mixed in. Also coconut yogurt and soups.
Megan came every Monday to check on Doris. On Monday August 12th, Doris was coughing so much that Megan came back on Thursday August 15th to check on Doris. She said her lungs sounded clear.
Friday August 16th, Doris blew the whistle at 6:30 am; Shelly went in to help her stand up to use the commode next to the bed. Doris was unable to move her right leg. Shelly called Doug and he came right down to help get Doris on the commode. While sitting up, Doris tried to drink some water, but she started aspirating so badly that Shelly called Megan. Navian had a small vacuum dropped off that would suck out the mucus from her lungs/throat.
Doug and Shelly got Doris back in bed and Shelly began giving Doris the morphine drops to help her relax and breathe easier. When the vacuum arrived, Shelly was able to insert the long suction wand into Doris’ throat and suck out a lot of mucus.
Doris went back to sleep and Shelly checked on her every so often. Doris slept the rest of the day, and woke up Saturday around 2:30 pm. Doug and Shelly had continued checking on her throughout the night. When Doris woke up she tried to tell them something, she had lost the ability to speak clearly. Her eyes were very alert and she kept trying to speak. Doug and Shelly sat on each side of her and held her hands. They both kept telling Doris, we love you so much, it’s ok, Mama let go, go be with God. Doris continued trying to speak. Shelly had been giving Doris a drop of morphine every hour as instructed. The morphine helped her to relax and breathe easier. Doris also was on an oxygen machine so she wouldn’t be oxygen deprived. Doris slowly went back to sleep. Shelly continued administering the morphine every hour, even through the night. Shelly set her alarm for every hour, so she could give Doris the morphine. At 5:30 am when Shelly went in to give Doris the morphine, Doris had passed. Shelly called Doug; he came down and confirmed she had passed. Shelly called Navian and their nurse came and pronounced time of Death. The nurse cleaned Doris and changed her clothes. Diamond Head Mortuary was called and they came to get Doris.
The Navian Nurse and Shelly’s friend the doctor both told Shelly and Doug that Doris passed peacefully, with Shelly administering the morphine hourly, kept her pain free, also that she slept the whole time, meant she had no pain.
My Mom was the most amazing woman I have ever known. She gave me such a good life, I never lacked for anything. When I think about her childhood compared to the childhood I had I want to cry. She made sure I would never have to work as hard as she had too as a child. My mom lost the love of her life at such a young age. She often told me that if she didn’t have me to take care of, she would have laid down and died herself. My mom was a survivor; she was so much stronger than she knew. She was
also the most loving person I knew. She was kind and very generous. I’m so proud and grateful to be her daughter. I only hope I can be half as good a person as she was. I knew I would miss her when she passed, but the initial pain I felt was so intense I felt like I couldn’t breathe at times. Losing my dad at six was hard but I was such a young six year old. The memories I have of him stem more from photos and the stories my mom and other family members shared with me. I still think of him and grieve for him. I will always grieve for both my parents. Knowing they are with God, at peace and together gives me comfort.
Thank you for reading this to the end, if you have, I’m sure it’s because you knew my mom and she touched your life, and you loved her too. Thank you for being a part of her life.
Doris is survived by her daughter, Michele Ann (Shelly) Herbes Hannam and her son John Douglas Hannam, her brother Billy Kramer and Dale Kramer, she has multiple nephews and nieces.
Shelly and Doug along with Dr. Angela Pratt will be hosting a Celebration of Life for Doris on Saturday November 16, 2024 at 3:30 pm. St Timothy’s located at 98-939 Moanalua Rd. Aiea HI 96701 refreshments to follow in Social Hall.
I would like to thank all the people at Navian. The love, care and support they provided for my mom was amazing. They continue to support Doug and I as we grieve for my mom.
Thank you to Wesley, the Chaplin for Navian. He came out to meet with my mom and she asked him if he would lead her service, and so he will. Thank you, Wesley!
Thank you to Megan my mom’s case nurse from Navian. My mom loved you! We are all so grateful for the love and care you gave to my mom! Thank you!
Thank you to Bree and her team at Diamond Head Mortuary. They were so authentic and compassionate as I made the plans for mom. Bree put together this wonderful web site so we can share memories of my mom. Thank you all for your kindness, I truly appreciate all your time.
Thank you to my special friend Zelah Yamagata, if not for her I wouldn’t have found Navian and mom wouldn’t have had the peaceful passing that she did.
Thank you to Dr. Silva and his staff for all their care for my mom these past eight years.
Thank you to Dr. Angela Pratt, for loving my mom the way you have, you are the sister I never had, and like another daughter to my mom. Thank you for helping with the details and planning for mom’s celebration of life.
Thank you to my amazing husband, Doug, your unconditional love and support throughout this journey of care giving for mama has been so amazing. I don’t know what I would have done without your help.
Thank you for the love and care you gave to mama; she loved you so very much!
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