Obit: Baggerley, Doris Ann (1928 – 2020)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Baggerley, Kistler, Labbe, Thorstensen, Komp, Stuart

Source: Tribune/Record/Gleaner (Abbotsford, WI) 24 Jun 2020

Baggerley, Doris Ann (1 MAR 1928 – 11 JUN 2020)

Doris Ann (Kistler) Baggerley passed away Thursday June 11th at the Riverside Assistive Living residence in Neillsville Wisconsin. She was 92 years old. She is survived by her husband of 70 years, Arlo Dale Baggerley, Neillsville; three daughters: Vicki Lee Labbe (Dave), Cumberland; Beth Ann Sherwood (Garry), Chippewa Falls; and Sherry Lynn Baggerley, Waukesha; and one son Dale Jay Baggerley (Shelley Thorstensen) Oxford, Pennsylvania. She had three grandchildren, Audrey Matson Komp, Russel Matson and Jack Baggerley, and two great-grandchildren, Ethan and Riley Komp. She is survived by one brother, Floyd Dean “Pap” Kistler of Crown Point Indiana.

Doris was born at home March 1st, 1928 on the family farm located east of Star City, Indiana to Floyd Elroy and Letha Marie (Stuart) Kistler. She had three brothers (Lee, Kenneth, and Dean) and seven sisters (Garnet, Thale, Esther, Grace, Helen, Lura, and Jane).

The dairy farm Doris grew up on was, for its time, a large and progressive operation. The farm was one of the first in the area to use motorized tractors and to pour large concrete slabs in the cattle feed lots to improve sanitation. The Kistler dairy provided milk to the Star City school for the students’ lunches. With ten brothers and sisters, and multiple hired hands, the farm was a very busy place. Doris was active in the 4-H program, showing calves at the county fair. She participated in the school’s theater groups and choirs. She was also an excellent athlete, at one point being recruited to join the boy’s high school baseball team.

Doris met her husband Arlo in 1946 while he was a traveling milk tester in Indiana. One day at the Doug and Lura “Bib” Feltis farm, it was mentioned that someone needed to go pick up Bib’s little sister “Toots” where she worked at the doctor office in Winamac. Arlo quickly volunteered and hurried to town. No one at the doctor’s office knew who “Toots” was until Doris, Arlo’s future wife, confessed that she was, in fact, “Toots”.

Doris soon left the job at the doctor’s office and moved to Corpus Christie TX to work at a family run bar-b-que restaurant. Meanwhile, Arlo had moved to Michigan to work a construction job, but, more importantly, to establish residency so he could apply for enrollment at the veterinary school at Michigan State University. Instead, he got in his car one day and, without stopping except for gas and food, drove to Corpus Christi. He bought a ring and asked Doris to marry him.

Arlo Dale Baggerley and Doris Ann (Kistler) Baggerley were married in Winamac, Indiana on October 22, 1949.

From 1950 to 1956, Arlo and Doris rented a small farmhouse and barn south of Twelve Mile, Indiana. Three daughters were born there: Vicki, Beth and Sherry. The house had electricity but no indoor plumbing. They had two Guernsey cows they milked. For three years, Arlo worked as a fireman on the Wabash Railroad Line, shoveling coal into the furnace to heat the big steam engine boiler. Soon he partnered with Sam Hoover from 1953 to 1958 to run an excavating company that’s primary job was tiling wetlands to dry them out and clearing woodland so they could all be turned into useable farmland. In 1956 Doris and Arlo bought a house with indoor plumbing a few miles northwest of Twelve Mile where a son, Dale, was born. In 1959 Arlo began operating big Caterpillar earth movers, first in Connersville, Indiana, then later building the airport at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Doris and the children moved to Big Pine Island, Michigan in 1961 to be near Arlo and establish residency so that Arlo could again attempt to enroll in the MSU Veterinary School. In the early summer of 1962 Arlo had an accident on the earth mover resulting in his having multiple broken ribs and cracked vertebrae. He spent the summer lying flat on his back on a hard board recuperating at the Big Pine Island house. In the fall he enrolled as a freshman at Michigan State University. Doris and the children moved with him to a two-bedroom married housing apartment, 1612-B Spartan Village.

Doris began working at the Wilson Hall dormitory cafeteria, quickly rising to a supervisory position. This was an exciting time for her as Wilson Hall was the athletic dorm and the football team was the national champions. She became an avid football fan, hob-knobbing daily with the football players and coaches including such legends as Bubba Smith, Jimmy Raye, Bob Apisa, and coach Duffy Dougherty. About these years, Doris always said that Arlo went to college lying flat on his back. Because of his bad back and the small apartment, he would retreat each evening to the bedroom to lay on the bed and study. In December of 1967 at the age of 40 he graduated from the MSU Veterinary School. He was voted by his classmates as “most likely to succeed”.
Arlo and Doris and their four children packed everything they owned into two vehicles and moved to Loyal, Wisconsin, the place with the most dairy cattle per square mile in North America. Arlo and Doris had bought the veterinary practice, as well as the combined house and clinic from Doc Lee. They arrived in Loyal at midnight on December 17th, 1967. There was a full moon and the temperature was 20 degrees below zero. Mattresses were unpacked and places were found to sleep.

Doris and Doc were a formidable team, building the operation over 20 years into a four-veterinarian practice. Doris was the office manager, answering the phone, running the drug room, and talking smart to every farmer that she encountered. They built the practice by initiating herd health practices involving monthly visits to farms. They promoted pro-active health management rather than just responding to emergencies. At the time they were on the cutting-edge of large animal health practices and were respected by all.

In 1988, they sold the practice, eventually moving to a 120-acre farm they had bought north of Loyal. They began raising Simmental beef cattle as well as growing various crops. Doris spent time with her grandchildren. They farmed the property for over twenty years until age made it impossible to continue.

Doris loved to sing. She loved all children, especially her own, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren. She loved to play games with children, be it card or board games, rowing with them in a boat down the river, or just getting down on the floor and “wrastling”. She was an avid gardener; she loved her houseplants, and always tied a red bow on all her dolls and figurines.

In lieu of flowers, the family is accepting memorials for Doris on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association. Please forward donations to: Beth Sherwood, 13048 37th Ave, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

A graveside service will be held for immediate family members. The Cremation Society of Wisconsin in Altoona is assisting with the arrangements.