Doris Vivian Johnson Herr of Gloucester, passed away peacefully at home with family on Friday, November 21, 2025. She was 100 years old.
Doris was born in the Town of Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, to the late Axel and Anna Johnson on August 2, 1925. She and her two older sisters, Peggy and Thelma, were raised in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, by their mother, Anna, and their maternal grandparents.
Doris was preceded in death by Robert, her husband of 68 years; her parents, her sisters, and grandson, Jeremy Knight. She is survived by her three daughters, Alicia Herr (Lois Lawrence), Patrice Knight (Norm), and Brenda Kreiner (Marc); six grandchildren, Matthew Knight (Quenna), Jared Kreiner (Chelsea), Taylor Kreiner, Michael Kreiner (Shana), Barbra Todaro (Charlie), and Diamond Gilliam, and six great-grandchildren, Jonathan Kreiner, Mia Kreiner, Ryan Todaro, Aidan Todaro, Elene Kreiner, and Theodore Kreiner, and numerous loved nieces and nephews.
Roller skating and basketball were always fond memories of hers. She proudly remembered playing high school basketball as a forward. She practiced relentlessly at home with a peach basket for a hoop. Upon graduation from Lock Haven High School in 1943, she and her mother and sisters found work at the wartime airplane factory of Glenn L. Martin in Baltimore. The plant was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world during World War II. Her mother was a social worker/counselor at the plant. Doris and her sisters worked the second shift typing documents in code. Taped in Doris’s scrapbook from the war years are dozens of ticket stubs from movies and vaudeville performances at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. She remembered seeing many swing bands at the Hippodrome, such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
When they returned to Lock Haven after the war, Doris met the love of her life, Robert (Bob) W. Herr, a new aeronautical engineer at the Piper Aircraft Corporation in town. They were married in October 1946. They moved to Hampton in 1948 when Bob accepted a position at NASA-Langley Research Center (known at that time as NACA–National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics).
Her childhood years were like so many others who lived through the Great Depression–poor–but she remembered the wonderful family spirit and the generosity of her grandmother, who ran a boardinghouse. Her grandmother always lent a helping hand to folks hit hard by the depression. Hobos marked her gate with a symbol to let other iterant workers know that a kind lady lives here. This generosity of spirit was evident throughout Doris’s life who gave freely of her time as a Sunday School teacher with preschoolers at First United Methodist Church in Hampton for two decades, a Girl Scout leader for several years, a Meals on Wheels volunteer in Hampton and Gloucester for over two decades, a volunteer at the Walter Reed Convalescent & Rehabilitation Center for two decades, and an active member of Bellamy United Methodist Church for over four decades. She was extremely caring and giving to others who were unable to do for themselves. As she used to say, “wherever there is a need.”
Doris enjoyed reading, bird-watching, and spending time with her family. She was also a mighty fine cook. Her family will testify to this. Beginning in 1980, she and her husband, Bob (and their much-loved dog Spot), traveled the 48 contiguous states over a decade of annual camping trips.
The family would like to thank the staff of Riverside Walter Reed Hospice in Gloucester for the loving care and compassion given to Doris. A private interment will be held in Parklawn Memorial Park in Hampton. A Celebration of Life gathering will take place on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 1 p.m., at Bellamy United Methodist Church. The family requests that memorials take the form of contributions either to Bellamy United Methodist Church, 4870 Chestnut Fork Road, Gloucester, Va. 23061, or to Friends of GCAC (Gloucester County Animal Control), mail check to Joyce Emerson, 7596 Green Drive, Gloucester, Va. 23061.
Andrews Funeral Home & Crematory, Gloucester, is in charge of arrangements.