Her first husband was Fay Adams, after his death she married John Herrmann. A son, Jerry, died young of appendicitis.

She was postmaster for 43 years; the post office was first in their store building in Norbeck and when that closed it finally was located in the enclosed front porch of her neat little bungalow on Main Street. That house is now the last remaining building on Main Street, slowly falling down. Its last resident was Harry Steinley (d. 1982) who bought it after Doris' retirement.

She was a family friend for many decades. Her husband and his brothers and she, as the Adams Land Co., founded the town of Norbeck, SD in 1920- where my grandparents lived and their children grew up. Thusly dooming the town of Carlyle several miles west to become a ghost town, as Norbeck sat on two crossing railroad lines. Some buildings were moved to Norbeck and some traveled elsewhere- the hotel moved to Loyalton. Years later as the paint peeled on the north side one could make out "Carlyle Hotel" in black letters beneath the white top coat. The remaining foundations and lichen-encrusted collapsed bank vault at Carlyle now seem like Celtic ruins on the plain.

It was Doris who drove my grandmother, Nellie Stacy Gebhard, to the hospital where she would die of diabetes in 1930. She told me she could smell a sickly sweet smell emanating from her.

Her obituary mentions a half-brother killed at Pearl Harbor; the other half of the story is Pvt. Victor L. Meyers was ironically born on the day the WW I armistice was signed on November 11, 1918- hence his given name- and died on the first day of WW II.


KG

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--From the 1982 History of Faulk County:

Fay Harvey Adams was born May 9, 1893, on a farm near Holbrook, Neb., to John and Elizabeth Adams. He came to South Dakota in the fall of 1919 with his brother Cecil, who was a banker in Loyalton and brother Carl was a mail carrier in Loyalton. They formed the Adams Investment Company and started the town of Norbeck.

Fay married Doris Meyers of Hendley, Neb., June 23, 1920. She was born July 1, 1901 to Sylvester and Myrtle Meyers. Fay was manager of the Standard Oil Company and Pacific Grain Elevator in Norbeck and Doris taught school until she was appointed Postmaster at Norbeck June 1, 1928. They had two children, Lorna Deane, born August 4, 1929 and Jerry Lee born February 3, 1934. Jerry died April 1, 1939 of a ruptured appendix and was buried in the Faulkton Cemetery. Fay, Doris and Lorna joined the Norbeck Baptist Church October 29, 1939. They operated a store in Norbeck for 20 years.

Fay died October 17, 1948. He was buried in the Faulkton Cemetery. Doris married John Herrmann September 5, 1953. John died May 21, 1961. He was buried at Faulkton. Doris continued as Postmaster at Norbeck until July 30,1971. After her retirement she moved to Faulkton, where she resides at this time. She is a past regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, past president of the Faulkton American Legion Auxiliary. She has been as active member of the Faulk County Red Cross, V.F.W. Auxiliary, Willing Workers Club and her church circle.

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POSTLOGUE-

After Doris passed away her daughter sold her house and land to the gas station across the street, who tore down the wonderfully rambling I. Allen Cornwell house, moved into Faulkton from LaFoon, and now uses the site as a parking lot. Architectural items were salvaged from the house but the cement carriage steps with iron rings to tether the horses has disappeared. Perhaps the only carriage steps in that part of the state.