M. Dolores Stiles, 94, of Marysville, died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, at her home on her family’s farm.
After graduating from Etna High School at the age of 17, she joined the Navy’s Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service during World War II. Her basic training was at Hunter College in New York, followed by her assignment in Cleveland, where she worked with military personnel files. After the war, she and her friend, Dolores Davis, would go to Valley Dale in Columbus to go dancing, where she met her future husband, Wayne E. Stiles.
She was a farmer’s wife who milked cows, had a vegetable garden and canned a lot of tomatoes and green beans. She sold eggs to the neighbors and took up babysitting the neighborhood children after her own were reared. Her family was so happy she was able to live out her years in the place that held so many precious memories.
She enjoyed going to the Windsor meal site for lunch and was the oldest female there. Reading was a great hobby of hers. The writers she enjoyed included Dean Koontz, Nora Roberts and James Patterson. She said her greatest accomplishments were her daughters and teaching them compassion, respect and independence. She was a Christian by faith, but believed church was “in your own backyard.” When she walked outside, she was in God’s country.
She was born on Oct. 16, 1923, in Columbus, to the late Robert Wilburn and Ethel Cunningham Carrington, the second oldest of 13 children. In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in death by her husband, Wayne E. Stiles, whom she married on Dec. 14, 1946, at Maynard Avenue Methodist Church Parsonage in Columbus, and who died March 3, 2002; daughter, Laura Beth Stiles, who died Nov. 7, 1991; sisters, Myrtle Morrison, Irene Scott, Shirley Floral, June Bell and Carol Elliott; and brothers, Robert W. Jr., Norman, Jesse and Alan Carrington.
She is survived by her daughters, Karen (Leo) Baker, Barbara (Bob) Russell and Gail Stiles; grandchildren, Brian (Judy), Dustin (Kim) and Jeremy Baker, Amy (Darren) Smith and Jennifer and Brooke Russell; great-grandchildren, Megan (Randy Simpson), Brody, Jordon, Laura, Lily and Gavin Baker, Dominic, Nathan and Dylan Smith, Tyler, Trace and Kaelyn Huff and Zachary Metzger; brothers, Homer Carrington of Milford, Dennis (Shirley) Carrington of Homer and Steve (Sandra) Carrington of Honduras; and her many friends at the Windsor meal site.
A gathering of family and friends will be held Wednesday, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Ingram Funeral Home. The Rev. Barry Scott will officiate funeral services at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will follow alongside her husband and daughter at Oakdale Cemetery. Full military honors will be conducted by the Union County Honor Guard.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Windsor and Community Seniors Meals Program or the Union County Humane Society in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be expressed at www.ingramfuneralservice.com.