Doris Darling

1918 - 2013

Doris (Rowe) Darling died Wednesday, November 20, 2013, age 95. She was born in Granby on January 24, 1918, the third daughter of John and Dorothy (Bowers) Rowe. A few years later, the family moved to Simsbury, and she began school two years early with her older sister Viola. She graduated from Simsbury High School in 1934, only 16 years old. After graduation, Doris went to work for Margaret's Salted Nuts & Fudge in Canton where she met owner Margaret Dyer's nephew, Daniel Darling. Dan and Doris were married in 1936 in Millerton NY, and moved into the house Dan had created in 1933 by dragging Margaret's old shop building a half mile east and setting it up on a hillside on Albany Turnpike. They enlarged it to a wider 2-story house in the 1940s and 1950s. When Dan was drafted in 1943, Doris went to work at the Harford Steam Boiler, where he had worked. He returned in 1945 and, in 1946, the couple had their first child, a daughter Doris. In 1951, they had a son Charles. Doris ran the Cherry Brook Library for many years, and delivered meals for Meals On Wheels until she was in her later 80s. She was active with Canton Benefit Productions in 1956, doing costumes for "Plain & Fancy." She attended the Canton Center Congregational Church where she was a Deacon for several years. She leaves her son Charles and his wife Marianne (Urso) Darling; her daughter, Doris Sherrow Heidenis and her husband Kerry; four grandchildren, Kathryn Darling, Sam Sherrow (Athena Wang), Sarah Sherrow and Esther Sherrow (Richard Wilson), and three great-grandchildren, Oscar, Maxine and Elroy Wilson. She also leaves her nieces and nephews, Roy and Maureen LeClaire, Dorothy and Joseph Eaton, Diane Wadsworth, Michele and Stanley Lien, and Sarah and James Smothers. She was predeceased by her husband, Daniel Dyer Darling and her sisters, Laura (Rowe) Andrus and Viola (Rowe) LeClaire. We want to thank Portland Care & Rehabilitation Center, where she spent her last months, for their loving care and consideration. They gave her kind, understanding care in her last days. Friends may call at the Vincent Funeral Home, 120 Albany Turnpike in Canton on Monday, November 25th from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Burial will be on Tuesday, November 26th, 12:00 NOON at Dyer Cemetery on Dyer Cemetery Road in Canton. A memorial service will follow the burial at 1:00 PM at the First Congregational Church of Canton Center, 184 Cherry Brook Road in Canton Center. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the First Congregational Church of Canton Center, P.O. Box 133, Canton Center, CT 06020 or to Portland Care and Rehabilitation Center, 333 Main Street, Portland CT 06480. Please visit Mrs. Darling's "Book of Memories" at www.vincentfuneralhome.com for online condolences.