Doris Stansel

Doris Stansel left this world on the very day she was born into it, March 28th, surrounded by her loving family in her childhood home in Philo, Illinois. She was 87 years old.

Born on March 28th, 1936, She was the eldest daughter of the late Richard and Bonnie Franks, and one of six siblings in a 2 bedroom house on the corner of South Adams Street and McKinley. Her father was the owner of the local lumber company as well as the longtime mayor of the town. Doris’ life was woven throughout with her gifts of authenticity, generosity, strength and joie de vivre.

A decided extrovert and with a leaning toward the bold and exuberant, she spent her youth pursuing the interests of tap-dancing, playing the saxophone and partaking in numerous clubs. She was a part of everything with joy and enthusiasm, and graduated from Unity High School in Tolono as homecoming queen. She spoke often of her affinity for her grandmother, the late Madeline Suycott, whose grace and grit resonated with her deeply, and indeed likely inspired her.

After high school, she left Philo for Augustana School of Nursing in Chicago, where she earned her degree and embarked on a lifetime of caring for others, drawing on her natural strengths of compassion and courage . There, she met her husband, Dr. HC Stansel, nicknamed Stan, whose career would take them to New Haven Connecticut, where he began a fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine. They soon settled in the nearby town of Woodbridge, where they adopted four children. Over time, Stan would rise to the position of Chief of Surgery at Yale. Doris wore motherhood naturally, with a warm heart, a frequent reminder to sit up straight and be polite, and a voice that was famous for carrying a mile when she called her children home for dinner. Her spirit would be on display at festive family gatherings, with their dearest friends, and during car rides with the kids, conducting a spontaneous round of Down By the Old Mill Stream. Busy holidays were celebrated in family tradition to the sound of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

Doris developed an appreciation for her east coast life but cast off the attitude and stature of the coastal elite, always with one foot firmly planted in the honest simplicity of the small town from which she hailed. Each summer, she would travel back to Philo with the kids so that they too could experience the wholesome pleasures of quiet summers spent with family, listening to the freight train pass through town, catching fireflies on starry nights and swinging on the front porch swing. A trip uptown beneath the azure beauty above, through the green landscape of cornfields would often yield the joyous exclamation, “Just LOOK at that BIG blue sky!”

Their family, similar to most, was not without their difficulties. But with fortitude, grace and well-placed humor, she would bring light to the truth that a family, however challenged, can stay unified and find love and warmth in even those times touched by challenges.

Doris’ later years afforded her the time to indulge in one of her greatest joys, travel. With her family and dearest friends, and often informed by her love of reading history, she embraced and enjoyed the cultures and diversity of Spain, Greece, Japan, Morocco, France, Russia, India, Nepal, England and Ireland. But most significantly, the occasional much loved family trip to Harbour Island in the Bahamas, which she adored most for its casual lack of pretension, pink sand beaches, and pastel painted charm. From her beach chair, she would relish in what she was there for, and indeed what she held most dear, watching those she loved enjoy themselves together.

 A lover of the big city and the theater, in 1997, she fulfilled a lifetime desire by renting an apartment on New York City’s middle east side, where she enjoyed many a broadway play and cultural offering of that singular town. With characteristic generosity, she opened her apartment to any family member who wished to visit. Through the course of her life, gin and tonic cocktail hours, parties, and dinners out would joyously ascend to a crescendo of Frank Sinatra’s, “New York”, in celebration of her love of that shining city.

It was at that time that she moved back to her family home in Philo, where she spent the remainder of her years as matriarch of the family, attending Unity games, swinging on the porch swing and taking thoughtful and loving interest in the lives of her loved ones. She was, over the years, the undeniable loving, central force of the Franks family.

During the course of her life, Doris put her kindness to action by volunteering establishing the HC Stansel Research Fund at Yale University, in honor of her late husband. She also traveled to Haiti, where she met with the director of HELP, the Haitian Education and Leadership Program, and went on to support the college education of several Haitian youths and contributing to numerous other charities.

The powerful resonance of Doris’s loving and vivacious presence will be missed, but will live on and be passed down in the lives of those who loved her.

Doris is survived by her children, Carolyn LeNard, David Stansel and Pamela Zamore, as well as her seven beloved grandchildren, Nate, Sam, Jack, Ben, Madeline, Hugh and Wolf, and her son in laws, Dennis LeNard and Michael Mauceri. In death she is preceded by her husband, Dr. HC Stansel and her son, Matthew Stansel.

In memory of Doris, donations may be made to The Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org/? form=alz_donate or The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research https://lustgarten.org/?form=give .

The visitation will be held at Zion Church in Philo Illinois on Friday, March 31st from 9 to 11 with the funeral to follow at 11:00 AM with Pastor Donna Hacker Smith.  Burial will be at Locust Grove Cemetery, Philo.

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