Sister of Mozell H. Booker
Doris Inez Hughes was born on September 4, 1932 to her parents, Allen Shannon Hughes and Harriett Lee Garland Hughes, at their home in Fork Union, VA. Doris attended Dunbar Rosenwald School on Mountain Hill Road in 1941 and graduated from S.C. Abrams High School in 1950.
At a young age, because she did not like that her father did not attend church, she convinced him to come to Sunday school with her at Thessalonia Baptist Church. He continued coming to church and in his later years, he became a minister and pastored several churches.
Doris attended Virginia State College for one year. After leaving college, Doris worked for the C.F. Sauer Company’s family. She had a funny story about flying to Reno Nevada with the family on a propeller plane. She did not like the high altitude and mountains. They sent her back to Richmond on the bus.
She left the Sauer job, and moved to Philadelphia. She went to Dental Hygienist School, but it was almost impossible to get a job in that field.
While living in Philadelphia, she met her husband, William Alva Hollis. They married at her home in Fork Union on August 3, 1958. Doris and Alva moved to Wilmington, Delaware and had their first child, Stacey, who was born with special needs. Her second daughter Lisa and her third child, a son Cyrus, was born.
She was the best cook, always concerned about cooking fresh and healthy food. A caravan of cars from Virginia and DC would find their way to Delaware to have our family Thanksgiving dinner at Doris’ house.
Later they moved to Montgomery County in Maryland because of their outstanding reputation of caring for special needs children.
Doris departed her life at the Adventist Health Care Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Maryland on November 12, 2021. She leaves her husband Alva; daughters Lisa and Stacey; son Cyrus (Ina); granddaughters Jewell, Jordyn, and Nyree; three sisters Margie, Geraldine, and Mozell and a brother Steven. She is survived by an aunt, Edith, and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins. Doris truly loved her family.