Doris Lyvon Shennum

Doris L. Shennum died on March 30, 2018. She was born in 1924 in Great Falls to Clara Goeddertz and Richard Roy Herd. As a teen in Kevin, MT, she worked during spring lambing on the family ranch homesteaded by great-grandparents, Albert and Agnes Goeddertz, and later worked as a chemist in the Kevin oil business started by her grandparents, Albert and Anna Goeddertz. She was proud of her degree in Bacteriology from Montana State University in Bozeman and proud to be the first in her family to graduate from college. Doris married her college sweetheart after he returned from military service in Germany during World War II. Doris and Bob lived 30 years in New Jersey and North Carolina until Bob retired from AT&T in 1985. Doris was very happy to return to Montana to be near her family again.

During the past 30 years in the Flathead Valley, Doris enjoyed managing her cherry and apple orchard on Flathead Lake, tending peonies and roses at her home on the Swan River, playing the piano, Bible study with the Community United Methodist Church in Bigfork and collecting genealogy stories about her family’s roots as Montana pioneers. She supported many philanthropic initiatives through her participation in AAUW, P.E.O., CUMC Circle and Guidepost’s Knit for Kids.

Doris is survived by two daughters and their families, cousin Jerry Agen and partner JR German, and her cat, Sheila. Daughter Sharon and Harry Vonk live in Bigfork, MT. Their daughter, Elaine Scott and husband Mark live in San Francisco, CA. Daughter Marsha and David Burns live in Ridgefield, WA with son, Colby Burns, daughter Brittany Burns and granddaughter, Cassandra Godin-Burns. Their oldest daughter, Courtney Burns lives in Livingston, MT.

The family sincerely thanks all the caregivers at The Springs in Whitefish, Heritage Place in Kalispell, The Lodge at Buffalo Hill in Kalispell, KRMC and the hospice team at The HealthCenter in Kalispell. These teams all went above and beyond caring for Doris during the past five years.

We are expressing our love for Doris through gifts to the Glacier Symphony in support of the concert hall building campaign..

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