Obituary of Doris Alfreda Schwartz Myers

Doris Alfreda Schwartz Myers, of State College, died Sunday, August 19, 2012 at the Mt. Nittany Medical Center. She was born October 18, 1917, in Philadelphia, the daughter of Joseph Schwartz and Sara Goldberg Schwartz and sister of Alfred Edward Schwartz, all of whom preceded her in death. She married Martin Henry Myers, of Philadelphia in 1938, he passed away in 1963. She was the Mother of and is survived by Joel N. Myers, Barry Lee Myers and his wife Holly, and Evan A. Myers and his wife Lynn, all of State College. She was
Grandmother of and survived by Daniel Myers and his wife Gracianne,
Sharon Myers and her husband Blaine Clapper, Erika Myers Heinz and
her husband John, Lachlan Myers, Andrew Morris, Carla MyerSmith and
her husband William Smith, Joseph Myers, Max Myers, Natalia Myers, and
Blair Larson, all of State College; Rebekah Myers Berg and her husband
Timothy of Claremont, California, Bradford Mason and his wife Tracy of
Virginia, Adrienne Mason Johnson and her husband Peter of
Philadelphia, Dmitry Myers of New York City, and Erik Larson of
Pittsburgh. She was Great Grandmother to and survived by Alexandra
Clapper, Benjamin Clapper, Harry Myers, Laura Myers, and Grace
MyerSmith all of State College and Katharine Mason and Jonathan Mason
of Virginia. A special addition to her family was Stephanie Ritter
who became a caregiver, companion, helper and devoted and loved friend
for the last six months of her life.

She was awarded a scholarship to the Moore Institute of Design in
Philadelphia after graduating high school. The scholarship was based
on scholastic averages plus a portfolio of her art work. She never
used the scholarship because when it was awarded she was already fully
employed in sales and design, making large window displays for retail
stores At age 21 she married her high school sweetheart Martin H.
Myers. They were married 25 years, before his suicide in 1963. While
raising her family she did free-lance art work and established a
business of hand painted ties, blouses, and scarfs. One of her many
clients was Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Center City. On
holidays she would be in the store and hand paint whatever customers
wanted on their scarves and ties.

Living in Philadelphia she became very active in the parents’ group at
the Ellwood Elementary School, in Oak Lane, where her sons attended
school and was elected President of that group. She was active in
local politics. She helped her husband in his real estate and
insurance business on north Broad Street on Oak Lane, and obtained a
Broker’s License in insurance at that time.

After her husband’s death she went to work for a small independent
insurance agency and then became a Field Representative for the AAA
Automobile Club in Centre City, as well as its affiliate the Keystone
Insurance Company. In this position she was a trouble shooter
responsible for having all branch offices that were back-logged
become current. She later became a claims examiner for the Keystone
Insurance Company. From there she was employed by GEICO as a
subrogation examiner and then was promoted to Operations Manager, with
30 employees under her guidance.

After she was widowed she married and divorced three times. After her
third divorce, in 1974, she moved from Philadelphia to live in State
College to be near her family. Her very first job in State College
was at Uncle Eli’s art store where she sold and framed art work. For
some time she managed the Commissary Restaurant, which was an
affiliate of the Train Station Restaurant. She also obtained a
Pennsylvania Realtor’s License and she worked for the owner of the
Allenway in State College marketing the very first town houses built
in the State College area and also handled marketing for the
Stowaway storage unit project both in State College and Lancaster
Pennsylvania. She worked for Jim Williams, a Real Estate Broker in
State College then for Neil Donahue and finally for Doyle Corman
now Prudential Realty. She was also owner of The Designer’s Den, a
studio of Interior Design.

As a member of the Centre County Board of Realtors, she created the
first P.R. position and was head of that committee. She directed fund
raising that made enough money to dedicate a room to the Centre County
Board of Realtors in the Ronald McDonald House in Danville, affiliated
with the Geisinger Medical Center.

Nearly all Real Estate offices in State College were closed week ends
when she arrived in the 1970’s. She was responsible for them
realizing the public advantages of opening week ends and holding
“Open Houses” as was practiced in Philadelphia.

Her paintings and pastels have been on public exhibition, including at
the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. She designed the
original logo for AccuWeather Inc., at the request of her sons, which
logo became nationally recognized. Once each year, for many years,
she designed, painted and framed individual annual awards for
AccuWeather employees. She also did other work for the company. She
was overwhelmingly proud of her sons and she never missed an
opportunity to say so.

She made a hand painted book containing many of her writings.
Throughout her lifetime she wrote poetry and prose. She was concerned
in the day before her death that she needed to get better and get home
to finish her book of poems.

She was active in various groups, including Mothers of a Boy Scout
Troop, a Home & School Association, Groups for singles as well as
widowed persons, and became president of each one of these groups.

She enjoyed people and always looked for their better side. She
always wanted to see the world be a better place and was never
satisfied with mediocrity. For many years she managed rental
property for her son Joel Myers and then for her son Barry Myers,
giving it up only at age 93, to better fight her health issues. She
continued to work on her computer, on her writing and her poetry,
until her death. She firmly believed that retirement was a deficit to
life. She said that constructive activity was food for the soul. She
learned to use a computer in her eighties and smart phones in her
nineties, always searching the internet for the best doctors and other
information.

A celebration of life honoring Doris Myers will be held in lieu of a
traditional funeral but her casket will be present as family and
friends celebrate her life. Evan Myers will MC the event and various
family members and friends will talk about her life.

The celebration will be held on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 11 AM. The
Jewish Community Center at 620 East Hamilton Avenue in State College
has been kind enough to provide a venue to handle the many people who
have indicated they would like to attend. Immediately following the
celebration there will be light refreshments and opportunity to talk
with members of her family.

Following that everyone is invited to the home of Joel Myers at 605
West Hamilton Avenue for an informal reception from 1 PM to 3 PM.

In addition, burial will take place in Philadelphia on Sunday at
Roosevelt Cemetery at 1 PM. Both events are open to all friends and
family.

Should anyone feel inclined to honor her memory, please donate to the
National Lung Partnership, to help find a cure for Lung Cancer in lieu
of flowers or anything else. She was deeply involved in organizing an
event for September 23, 2012 in State College to raise money for lung
cancer. Below is a direct link to Doris' donation page. People can
also access it using the step-by-step instructions or mailing the
donation directly to the Partnership.

Free to Breathe Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/FTBStateCollege

http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR/RunWalk/General?px=1340703&pg=personal&fr_id=1590

Free to Breathe Event

1528 Walnut Street, Suite 910

Philadelphia, PA 19102

*Checks made payable to Free to Breathe – memo line should read "State
College Event"