Obit: Long, Doris D. (1924 - 2022)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Long, Schwanebeck, Freedlund, Hoban, Cerna, Bonanno, Clark

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 5/04/2022

Long, Doris D. (4 September 1924 – 20 April 2022)

Doris D. Long, 97, died April 20, 2022, in her home, surrounded by her daughter Nancy and granddaughter Carmen. She was born on September 04, 1924, to Clarence and Martha (Schwanebeck) Freedlund of Sherwood Township, Clark County. She was the youngest of 7 siblings.

Doris lived most of her life in Rockford, IL before moving to Mindoro, in 1998 and then to Brookfield, in 2015. In order to graduate high school, she left home to become a nanny and in 1942, she graduated from Neillsville High School. She married Louis E. Long in Evanston, IL on October 28, 1944, and became a Navy Man’s wife. Doris and Louis eventually settled in Rockford, IL where she worked as a receptionist at a doctor’s office and became a mother of two daughters.

Her life’s work not only included being a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother but she was also a member of the First Presbyterian Church where she became a Deaconess, visiting members of the church who were homebound. She embraced her husband’s philanthropic spirit and joined Daughters of the Nile, Alabet Temple No 31 as well as the Mindoro Lutheran Church quilting group. Her passions in life were her family, sewing, gardening, feeding the birds, birdwatching, celebrating the holidays and being a fur-mom to many dogs. Her spirit embodied sheer strength, determination, perseverance and faith, all values learned from being a child of the Great Depression and allowed her to overcome many obstacles in life.

Doris is survived by her daughter Nancy Hoban; 3 grandchildren: Luis Cerna, Carmen Bonanno (Cerna) and her husband Nicholas Bonanno, and Cassandra Hoban; 3 great-grandchildren: Edmund (Eddie) Clark, Ezra and Ella Cerna; nieces, nephews and cousins; her dog Belle and 3 grand-dogs Winston, Eva and Patrick Bonanno. She is preceded in death by her parents Clarence and Martha Freedlund, 5 brothers and 1 sister, husband Louis and daughter Joanne Long.

Services will be held at 2pm on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at Sunset Funeral Home, 8800 N. Alpine Rd. Machesney Park, IL. Entombment will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens. Visitation is 1 hour prior to service time. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to Alabet Temple No 31 and mail to Princess Recorder Jane Whitaker, PQ, 15649 East Olde State Rd., Sycamore, IL 60178. The Temple will then donate to the Shriners Hospitals for Children – Chicago.

Nancy and Carmen would like to thank Brighton Hospice of Brookfield, WI for making it possible for Doris to die at home.