Ouida Nell Doss

Ouida Nell Doss passed away October 25, 2019 in Overland Park, Kansas. She was born November 24, 1921 in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of James Harvey and Sophronia Isabelle (Vaughn) Strange. Ouida was raised in Dallas, Texas, graduated from Sunset High School and lived with her parents in the Oak Cliff area. Ouida married David Doss August 2, 1942 in her parents' home in Dallas. After the wedding, David and Ouida traveled to Chicago, Illinois where he was stationed in the Navy and then moved to Jacksonville, Florida. They moved home to Dallas, Texas after the end of World War II. Ouida worked several office jobs, one of which was Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

After many years trying to conceive, in 1952 they adopted a daughter, Jo Ellen. The family moved to Aurora, Colorado for David's work, then moved to Kansas City in 1953 where they moved to a home in Mission, Kansas. In 1954, they adopted their son, Steve. Surprising everyone, Ouida found out she was pregnant with her daughter, Terry Jean born in 1956. Two other daughters, Rebecca born in 1959, and Amy born August 24, 1963. That completed the happy family.

In 1958 the family moved to Overland Park, KS and in 1967 a larger house was needed for a family of seven. The house was doubled in size adding bedrooms, family room, breezeway and new garage. All five children were raised in the house, and Ouida loved her home and lived there 60 years.

During Ouida's lifetime of raising children, she had many hobbies and interests. She made clothes for the children when they were young and knitted many items. She made and showcased in her home many beautiful needlepoint and cross-stitched creations. In her last 20 years of life, she bought a large weaving loom and took many classes to learn how to weave. She had a gift for taking patterns and colors and creating beautiful woven rugs, mug rugs, and wall hangings. You could always find Ouida with a book next to her chair as she was an avid reader. Christmas was a very large event every year and the entire family tried to attend as often as possible.

Ouida was a member of the Camp Fire Girls organization as a girl and after having a family of her own, she was a leader for her daughters' groups for many years. They held meetings in the basement of her home, went on weekend camp outs to Camp Towanyak in Shawnee, KS, and made many crafts. Ouida also worked for the Camp Fire Girls organization in their store for several years.

Ouida spent the better part of 25 years researching and preparing family history genealogy books for three main family surnames. These family surname books were accepted by libraries to be part of their collection in the counties where ancestors lived. She spent countless hours (prior to the age of computers) in the local archives and sending letters to other researchers to collect all the information she could locate. This was a tremendous amount of work and something she loved doing.

In May of 1998, Ouida and daughter Jo took a vacation across the Canadian Rockies visiting Vancouver, Calgary, and to Banff. She loved this trip and talked about it often. She also visited Las Vegas, Nevada for her son's wedding with other family members. Ouida loved to travel and see new places.

After developing Alzheimer's disease, Ouida was moved to an assisted living facility in January, 2019. Her home and her children were the light of her life. She was well loved and will be greatly missed.

Ouida was preceded in death by her husband, H. David Doss; her mother and father; and sister, Marsha Lee Edmondson. She is survived by her five children Jo Ellen Neill of Dallas, TX, Steve Doss of Austin, TX, Terry J. Doss of Olathe, KS, Rebecca Wilhelmi of Navarre, FL and Amy Eslinger of Parkville, MO; grandchildren Jennifer Neill Battiest, Jeffrey Neill, Jordan Doss, Alexis Doss, Daniel Lankard, Jessie Lankard, and Joshua Lilley; and seven great grandchildren.

Special thanks are given to the staff at Harmony House of Prairie Elder Care, and the nurses and caregivers of Kansas City Hospice.

A visitation will be held Tuesday, October 29th, 2019 at 11:00 am, followed by a memorial service at Amos Funeral Home, 10901 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, KS. A graveside service will be held at Johnson County Memorial Gardens immediately following at 11200 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS.

The family suggests any memorial donations in Ouida’s name may be made to:

Alzheimer’s Association
3846 W 75th St #4126
Prairie Village, KS 66208