Former Nicasio resident Doris Lang died last Christmas
Day, of a pulmonary embolism. She was 71 and had lived in Petaluma for
the last 33 years.
In 1955 she moved with her first husband, Ken Irving,
to Halleck Creek Ranch, which was owned at the time by her husband’s
father. Her then husband joined the Marin County Sheriff’s Department
and served as one of two deputies, stationed in Point Reyes, who covered
all of West Marin.
During their 17 years in Nicasio, the family moved
from the Halleck Creek Ranch to live in an apartment behind Druids Hall
— no longer in existence — and then to the Lafranchi ranch,
and later to a home on Lucas Valley Road.
The former Doris Jean Rumley was born Dec. 10, 1934,
in Coburn, Virginia. "The hospital was near a river so the plain-spoken
people along the Tennessee border called that part of town, ‘frog
level,’" noted her son, Mark Irving. "Doris was fond
of saying she was born in Frog Level, Virginia."
Natural athlete
Her mother died when Doris was very young, and she
was raised by her father and stepmother. As a girl she excelled in field
hockey, basketball and softball. "Everyone in the family said she
was real good," said her son.
Later on in Nicasio she played on a women’s softball
team. She never missed one of her sons’ ballgames and was a big
fan of the Oakland Raiders and the Athletics.
After graduating from her small-town high school,
she moved in with her sister and brother-and-law, in Richmond, Virginia.
Eventually the trio packed up and moved to Butte, Montana, and later
to Arizona.
Hey, waitress
While working as a waitress at a Walgreen’s Drug
Store lunch counter and soda fountain in Tucson, she met Ken Irving,
an Air Force serviceman stationed nearby.
She spent most of her working life as a waitress.
In Marin County she waited tables at the Courthouse Creamery in San
Rafael, located downtown across from the old courthouse.
In 1979 she divorced Ken Irving. Three years later
she married Jack Lang, whom she met in a Petaluma bar. Though she was
terrified of flying, Mrs. Lang took several trips with her husband to
Hawaii. On one excursion to the Big Island, the Kilauea volcano erupted.
Mrs. Lang stepped out of character and joined her husband in a helicopter
flight over the bubbling inferno.
"Jack made her very happy," said her son. Mr.
Lang died last August.
Described by her family as friendly, outgoing and
full of life, Mrs. Lang was a woman comfortable in her own skin. She
taught her sons that there’s nothing wrong with being just who
you are.
In addition to her husband, she was also predeceased
by a brother and two sisters.
Mrs. Lang is survived by her sons, Mark Irving of
Nicasio; and Mathew Irving of Petaluma.