Dorothy Mildred (Barnes) Doyle, the daughter of Wallace Dale and Ethel Leona Cartmill Barnes was born on July 31, 1920 near Sidney, Iowa. Mildred passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family on August 26, 2011 at the age of 91.
Mildred attended country schools near Sidney and Tabor, graduating at age 16 from Tabor High School. She successfully completed the Normal Training Course in 1938, subsequently teaching at Harvard School in rural Randolph. During her teaching career she lived with a nearby family during weekdays and spent the weekends with her grandparents in Sidney. One of her vivid memories of this time was when she huddled her entire classroom of children in a corner of the one room school house as a tornado touched ground a few yards away.
It was during her country teaching days that she met and married local farmer Thomas James Doyle. They made their home together in the rural Randolph area where she was a full time farmer's wife, mother and community volunteer. After the death of her husband in 1969, she continued to be directly involved with the grain and livestock farming operation with her sons until the time of her death.
Mildred served her community as a 4-H leader and Fremont County Youth Committee member for years. She was an active member of Shenandoah Meta Grada Club, the Shenandoah Antique Study Club and the Randolph Development Board. She was a member of the Cow Belles Assoc., where she actively promoted the beef industry of Iowa. Proud of her family lineage in Fremont County dating back to the Civil War, Mildred was active in the Fremont County Historical Society. Mildred was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church serving on its Altar Society and Parish Council. She was recognized for outstanding leadership by the American Cancer Society and by the Omaha Women's Chamber of Commerce. She enjoyed reading, traveling, baking, interior decorating, sewing, keeping her grandfather clock wound, and listening to KMA. Her priority was spending time with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and never missing her four o'clock social time with her Holmes Apartment friends.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband, brother Robert Barnes, sister-in-law Lillian Needham Barnes, brother-in-law Freeman Cook, and her husband's Tom's brothers, sisters and their spouses. Surviving are six children and their spouses; Dr. Michael Doyle and wife Debra of Mesa, AZ, Patricia Baran and husband Anthony of Randolph, IA, Judith Wischik and husband Irving of Cranbury, NJ, Catherine Fahey and husband John of Litchfield, CT, John Doyle and wife Dixie of Tabor, IA and James Doyle and wife Melonie of Randolph, IA. Mildred's grandchildren and their spouses and great-grandchildren include; Lauren and Erin Doyle of Mesa, AZ, Tom Baran of Cambridge, MA, Dr. Mary and Thomas Lally of Rochester, MN, Ryan and Jennifer Doyle and their children McKenna and Jack of Omaha, NE, Jill and Trent Jones and their children Brooke and Alexis of Tabor, IA, Tom and Michelle Doyle and daughter Ireland of Ames, IA, Beth and Brian Findley of Shenandoah, IA and Pete Doyle of Randolph, IA. Mildred is also survived by a sister Ethel Cook of Essex, IA, numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and a host of friends.