Doreen Charlotte Hebert
June 21st 1930 – April 30th 2015
In the early morning of April 30th, 2015, Doreen Charlotte Hebert passed on peacefully in her sleep. She was 85. She was battling terminal cancer, COPD, and diabetes.
Doreen is survived by her seven children (and their spouses); Barney (Nancy), Ken (Linda), Mary (Tony), John (Zoe), Julie (Kelly), Kris (Bob) and Joe (Jennifer). All reside in the Puget Sound region with their respective families. She had eleven grandchildren; Allysen, Jordan, Anthony, Shawna, Chad, Aaron, Emily, Margaret, Monica, Audrey, Claire, and Ben. She had two great grandchildren; Sawyer and Magnus. She was preceded in death by her husband Victor (1968), and two children Paul (2011) and Dave (2012).
Doreen was born on June 21st, 1930 to Anthony and Hilda Hagel in Calgary, Alberta. Elder brother Duane, completed the family. They moved to Seattle in the mid 1930s where they remained throughout their lives.
She met her future husband, Dr Victor Hebert at Seattle University in the late 1940’s and they were soon married. But not before earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry. The rigors of husband Vic’s Medical School and residency found them in St. Louis, MO and then back to the Seattle area for where they settled in, building a home on Clyde Hill and a family of nine. 
An avid cook, Doreen transformed the Bush School cafeteria into a place the students flocked to. She loved to golf, swim, and garden. But her real passion in life, aside from her responsibilities as provider and caretaker for her family, was bridge. She loved the game, and achieved Life Master Rank, no simple feat. Fierce competitor, compassionate partner, devoted student of the game as she was in life.
Doreen Charlotte Hebert; devoted, astute, resolute. wife, mother, sister, daughter, co-worker, partner, friend.
Funeral services will be held at Sacred Heart Church in Bellevue on Monday, May 11th 2015 at 11:00am.
5 Responses to “Doreen Charlotte Hebert”
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Doreen also had a great talent for interior design. She chose paint and furniture for all her homes, from the ponderosa to Kirkland and finally the West Seattle home. I could always count on her for medical advise when my kids were sick. We will miss you Doreen.
Growing up with the Hebert family I think Doreen (I started calling her Doreen instead of Mrs. Hebert when I turned 50) thought I was the 10th child I was there so much. My mom and visited with her recently in Redmond and talked about the days growing up on Clyde Hill – we laughed about some of the good memories we shared.
What I learned from Doreen – that cocoa and toast was a balanced breakfast, that posture was going to be super important when I was older, that if you sneak out to TP someone’s house that you would get caught,
that chores were required and so much more fun if your best friend helped you, or and so much more! But recently I learned that there is a true love for life and that in life we should remember to have joy and she seemed to have a lot of joy despite the aches and pains.
I am sad that I am too far away to be there on Monday but my heart and prayers are with a family that means so much to me. Having a service so close to Mother’s Day is so appropriate as Doreen was a great Mom.
When I was in middle school Grandma took me to see all of the gory, terrible, b-movies that nobody else would. She had to have known that the next movie would somehow be worse than the last, but she escorted me regardless. When I think of all the gruesome movies I dragged her to without protest, I realize now that she was just strengthening our relationship, even if it meant seeing gems like I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was just another way she expressed her love and desire to share interests, even if she wasn’t terribly interested in those interests. She did actually like a couple, notably Scream, which surprised me, and Dark City, which did not, because she had very good taste.
The last movie I watched with her was a very good one, by all standards, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which we watched over at her West Seattle home just a few months ago. Although not gory or badly produced, it was still just as brutal as the movies we used to see. But we were at her home and she could yell all the advice in the world at the characters, mostly things like “Don’t you drink that drink!”, and of course “For Heaven’s Sake!” which I think she must’ve said at least a dozen times, so you know it was a dark film.
She was always quick with advice, and bold enough to speak up no matter what was going on around her. If she thought it, she spoke it. I admire that very much. I’ll always love her, and she occupies a very special place in my heart.
(Also, I read this out loud a couple of times and my parrot is now saying “Oh For Heaven’s Sake!” because he apparently liked how animated it sounds. I literally thought it was a ghost the first time he said it, perfect cadence, and of course I had to say it just like she used to, so he sounds just like her.)
Remembering my mother in law with love…
I used to go and spend time with Doreen when Joe and I were first dating and he was working in Alaska – so it was just us girls. I remember during one such girls visit after Joe and I got engaged Doreen and I were sitting in her living room. She said to me with a straight face: you know, there’s murder…but no divorce. Some people might think of that as an interesting thing to say to her son’s fiancée but one thing I really enjoyed about Doreen was how she’d communicate something serious and deep, with humor. She spoke my language. She wasn’t suggesting with that advice, that I kill Joe but merely inspiring me to think…and if I’m to use a little humor in my interpretation, she was saying: if whatever’s going on in our marriage isn’t worthy of me bumping him off, I might as well stay married to him. Good advice!
One time she said to me in the context of someone’s spirituality, If you don’t get God, just put another “o” in there and call it “good”. She was realistic, hopeful and had good intentions.
Finally, Doreen was a lot of things to me, my mother in law, like a Grandma (worked out this way given my and Joe’s age difference at that he was her youngest) and also a sister friend. I felt a real connection to her spirit as a woman and a girl. I saw myself in her tenacity, love of her family and the sense of responsibility that was kindled in each of us as young women. I’m really happy our paths crossed. Rest peacefully, Doreen.
So sorry to hear this sad news, may she rest in peace.