Doris L. Gerber

GERBER, Doris L., 86, of Sandston, Va., died on March 8, 2009, with her family by her bedside, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was born on August 17, 1922, in Baltimore, Md., to Carrie B. Linthicum and Glenn Oliver Linthicum. At the age of 13, she sang with her sister, Margorie, and a friend in a trio named "The Waves of Rhythm" (later known as "The Three Girls in Blue"), part of a weekly radio program at WCBN, with a live audience and a full orchestra. They performed in the Stardust Review at the famous Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore. She graduated from high school in 1940 and continued her education and graduated from business college. In 1946, Doris married George Edgar Gerber, also of Baltimore, when he returned from his service in the U.S. Navy during WWII. In 1962, Doris moved with her family to Sandston, Va. She worked at the Sandston Residency of VDOT as the secretary to the resident engineer for nearly 20 years. She was an active member of Sandston Presbyterian Church for 46 years, where she sang in the choir most of that time. She was actively involved in her children's education and their various activities in school. She made many sacrifices for her children and never failed to put their needs before her own. She truly believed that faith and her family gave her the strength to overcome such insurmountable odds. Her doctors all agreed that she was a remarkable and courageous woman, who maintained her dignity, kind demeanor, and sense of humor through it all. Doris moved to Summerhill Retirement Condominiums in Bon Air, Va., in 2004. In 2008, she moved to Dogwood Terrace in Richmond. Doris was preceded in death by her husband, George Gerber, who died in 1983. She is survived by her three children and their spouses, Susan and Brad Meador of Littleton, N.C., Nancy and John King of Atlanta, Ga., and George and Rae Gerber of Richmond; and three siblings. She was a loving and devoted grandmother to her three grandchildren, Jennifer Meador of Chicago, Illinois, Bradford Meador Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., and Grace Emily Gerber of Richmond, Va. The family will receive friends 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Parham Chapel of Woody Funeral Home, 1771 Parham Road, where funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Friday. Interment Signal Hill Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the American Cancer Society. "Strife is o'er, the bat-tle done; Now is the vic-tor's tri-umph won; Now be the song of praise be-gun al-le-lu-ia!"


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.