Doris LaVerne JOHNSON

1937 - 2020  (82 years)

• Name	Doris LaVerne JOHNSON
  Birth	28 Aug 1937	Grand Forks County, North Dakota
  Gender	Female
  Death	21 Jul 2020	Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California
  Notes	With great sadness laced with wonderful memories, we bid farewell to our beautiful mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Doris McGrath Hale. The most loving 82 year old has journeyed on leaving the most enviable of legacies as the ultimate role model for leading a life of faith, love, purpose and meaning. Doris waved her final goodbye very late in the evening of July 21, 2020. Like so many of her contributions in life, her departure was quiet, understated, purposeful.  Born Doris LaVerne Johnson on August 28, 1937, second child of Bernice and Laurence Johnson, this magnificent lady grew up in a farming community bordering Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN. Doris adored her sister, Darlene McNamee and her brother, Larry Johnson. In her early twenties, Doris fell in love with a local boy, Roy “Buster” McGrath, married him and the two of them moved to California where together they raised six children, Charlene, Mark, Karin, Wesley, Billy and Buster. She became a full time mother, part time saint (part time could be argued), who mended, knitted, sewed and baked her way into the lives of countless members of the Santa Barbara/Lompoc community, faithfully supported her church, and found time to volunteer each Monday to serve meals to the homeless community in Lompoc. She learned from her mother that the greatest gift is an act of love, and she practiced that lesson every day of her life. Doris’s love of cooking, camping, gardening and playing cards with her family was legendary, and her ability to bring together families for a barbecue came naturally and she did that quite often right up to the end of her life. Doris went through life at double-speed. It was simply amazing to see how much energy was contained in such a small person (“five foot two, eyes of blue”). She never stopped cooking, cleaning or gardening. When she hit 80, a time when many are slowing, she accelerated to a better life. She moved into a new home with her son, Wesley, his wife, Julie, in Lompoc, to be with family that adored her, actively helping with the packing, moving and landscaping. She loved to travel to visit her relatives all over the country, the little girl who dreamed of the great and mysterious world ended up seeing much that it has to offer. She enjoyed making traditional Norwegian lefse (often making it a from scratch as a family event) and walleye fish in North Dakota, worked in Solvang enjoying the Dutch community, enjoyed the Blue Bayou while visiting Karin, got a taste of the Long Horn state (Texas) where two of her grandchildren live and always enjoyed her trips to Florida and near our Nation’s Capital to enjoy her time in Northern Virginia with Charlene, her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She was strong enough to work with a large group of physicians at an elite shoe boutique, but was always equally happy to make a new friend in the aisle of a grocery store. Doris is survived by her daughters, Charlene McGrath Bayes (partner, Betsy) and Karin Johnson (Kevin) and her sons, Wesley (wife, Julie), Billy (partner, Jodie) and Buster McGrath (wife, Jen), eight beloved grandchildren, eleven great grandchildren and a rich array of cousins, nieces and nephews, best friend Eva Andersen, devoted caregiver, Michelle Berleue, and a vast extended family that starts in North Dakota and extends around the United States. In the occasionally unforgiving way the world works, Doris was preceded in death by her loving husband of 38 years - the great love of her life, Buster, and her second husband, Doyle McCann and third husband, Hugh Hale, her sister, Darlene McNamee and her son, Mark McGrath. Private services will be held Monday, July 27, at Starbuck-Lind Funeral Home, with private burial in Lompoc Cemetery.
  Person ID	I40848	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

  Father	Laurence A JOHNSON,   b. 13 Sep 1914, East Grand Forks, Polk County, Minnesota d. 12 Dec 1978, Norwalk, Los Angeles County, California (Age 64 years)
  Mother	Bernice
  Family ID	F29829	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Roy Joseph MCGRATH,   b. 2 Jan 1934, North Dakota d. 22 Mar 1995, Santa Barbara County, California (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	13 Apr 1957	Grand Forks County, North Dakota
  Children	1. M. MCGRATH
  Family ID	F27447	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

  Family 2	Doyle MCCANN
  Family ID	F29836	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

  Family 3	Erman Hugh HALE   d. 16 Sep 2018, California
  Marriage	Abt 2008
  Family ID	F29831	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025