Doris Jean Cole Shoffner was born February 19, 1935, in High Point, NC to James Vernie Cole and Cleo Lindsay Cole. Doris was the 9th of 10 siblings, and she spent her entire life regaling her family and friends with stories of her life in North Carolina with her mother and all her siblings.  She had a beautiful life that ended after 91 years and 6 months.  She was a kind, loving, beautiful, about-the-business, southern, matriarchal gentlewoman who was beloved (and sometimes feared) by family and friends.

Doris Cole had an enduring love for education.  She graduated from William Penn High School in High Point, NC in 1954 and went on to complete undergraduate and graduate school at North Carolina A & T College in Greensboro, NC.  She majored in Education and was an advocate for children and education her entire life.

Her deepest joy was her marriage of 68 years to Garnett W. Shoffner.  On February 1, 1958, she married him and in a fairly short time became Doris Cole Shoffner, military wife and mother to three children: Joseph Anthony, Robin Denise and Debra Renea.  She loved him, admired him, always respected him and thoroughly enjoyed being his wife.  Together, they traveled the world and built an extraordinary life together.  Eventually they settled in Bellevue, Nebraska where, Garnett and Doris ultimately retired.  

In Bellevue, she taught school for several years before she served as the first African American principal in the Bellevue Public School District (for 19 years) before she retired in 1994.  Doris enjoyed her professional life and served in leadership positions on numerous community and professional boards.  (Nebraska Selective Service Board, African American Scholarship committee, Nebraska PTA and the Merit Commission Board)        

Doris and her family loved and served the Lord in their first church at Holy Family Catholic Church in Omaha, NE. They had dear friends there that shared life’s joys, pleasures and losses for many years.  In later years, they became active members of St. Benedicts the Moor Catholic Church where they worshipped until they moved to Chicago in 2022, to be near their children in their later years.

With a loving husband, three children and a full professional career, Doris was a very busy woman for many years.  Despite the demands of her life, she loved to entertain and graciously hosted many wonderful parties and holidays.  She was an incredible cook who enjoyed good food, good friends and lively debate.  Especially after her children were in college, she and Garnett were able to reconnect with old friends and made new ones that grew into a web of extended family.  She will be lovingly remembered by so many friends:  Dan and the Bartek Family; Dorothy DeVosse; Paul McClain; Sharon Hammerlen; Rose Mary Moore; Betty Burton; Gary Johnson; Angela Harden; Joyce Cooper; the Holeyfield Family and Ron Gaspard.  

Doris has always been civically minded. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority since her days at North Carolina A&T and a member of The Links, Incorporated for many years. She was also a member of The National Association of Elementary School Principals and Phi Delta Kappa.

On August 8, 2026, following an extended period of illness, Doris departed this world to join the ancestors.  She is survived by so many including:  her beloved and devoted husband, Garnett; her three children, Joseph, Robin and Debra; her granddaughter, Angela; her son-in-law, Erving Benson; her only surviving brother, Robert Cole; her nieces: Sandra Wallington (Chuck), Joyce Cole, Mishawn Cole Turner (Karl), Veranda; her nephews: Orlando Bell, Eddie Cole (Adrienne), Allen Isles (Elizabeth), Lazar Jones (Deborah); and an extended family of relatives and friends