(From Clark Funeral Home)
Doris Jean (Walbridge) Dalbom was born Sept. 12, 1933, in Batavia, New York. She grew up with two sisters, Catherine "Katy" and Virginia "Ginny", on a small farm in upstate New York where she developed her love of horses, plants, and everything to do with the outdoors. She started first grade at the age of 4 and finished high school when she was 16. Doris graduated from SUNY Geneseo State College with a Bachelor of Science in Education.
After college, Doris drove across the country with a friend because they heard there were teaching jobs in California. It was in California where a fellow staff member at her school introduced Doris to her nephew, Chuck Dalbom from Bakersfield, California. Doris and Chuck were married in 1956; and were married for 66 years until Chuck's passing in 2022.
Doris and Chuck spent the first few years of married life in Goleta, California (a suburb of Santa Barbara), where Doris taught school and Chuck worked three jobs while he finished college. Both Chuck and Doris taught at the Goleta Union School. They had three children while in Santa Barbara, California, and then their little family of five moved north to Paradise, California, before Chuck and Doris made the decision to move to Southwest Missouri to raise cattle. They spent two years near Neosho, Missouri, and then made the move to the beautiful rural countryside just outside of Stella, Missouri. Doris used to enjoy telling people that they lived near Stella, which was between Wanda and Jane.
Doris was an active member of the Stella United Methodist Church, where she met lifelong friends. She and Chuck also purchased and refurbished the historic Lentz-Carter building on Ozark Street in Stella, which they turned into a restaurant before selling it.
In the late 1960s and 1970s Doris taught periodically at both the Triway Elementary School and Granby Elementary School during times when there was a temporary need for an elementary school teacher. But she spent the majority of her days doing what she loved most: taking care of her family, riding horseback, and overseeing her huge vegetable garden, lush lawns, and flower beds that were always growing and blooming. If a flower, fruit tree, or a shrub could grow in Missouri, you could probably find it in Doris's lawn or gardens.
Doris was an accomplished horsewoman and had a beautiful bond with all of the horses she owned and loved. Although Doris would have ridden her beloved horses every day just for fun, she and Chuck were also in the cattle business and therefore she took her role of checking cattle on horseback seriously. Every day during calving season - or really anytime that was needed - you'd find Doris out on one of her horses, making the rounds on their ranch ensuring that all was well.
Doris was an incredible mom. The stories her three "kids" could tell would easily fill a book - or 12 - but here are three that illustrate how loving, fun, and hands-on she was as a mom:
When her oldest son, Bill, was a young teenager and had a few friends over, Doris told them that she'd make them pancakes in the morning. As many as they could eat. And she ended up cooking and flipping 76 pancakes that morning for Bill, younger brother Clint, and three of Bill's lucky friends.
When middle child, Clint, was around 11 or 12, he decided he would feed the family with his hunting skills. Doris told him she'd cook whatever he provided. And true to her word, the family ate rabbit stew, squirrel and dumplings, and frog legs from the pond. But Doris drew the line when Clint brought home three lizards and showed them to her through the kitchen window.
And, one night after a full day of snow, Doris woke up daughter, Dora, late at night when the moon was full and the world was peaceful and white, with the whispered words: "Let's ride!" Mother and daughter saddled up their horses and rode out into the night, the horse's hooves throwing horseshoe-shaped snow clumps as they galloped through the fields.
Doris had a love of travel. Together she and Chuck traveled to places like New Zealand, Ireland, England, and the Galapagos Islands. She also enjoyed traveling to just about every corner of the 50 United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, with the Florida panhandle coastline a favorite summertime spot and family gathering place. When Doris was in her 90s, she continued her love of travel and ventured all around the state of Missouri with granddaughters, down to Texas to see family, as well as a trip back to upstate New York, and just last summer, out to southern California.
Doris is survived by her sister, Virginia "Ginny" Ann Voss; her son Bill Dalbom and daughter-in-law Kim; her son Clint Dalbom and daughter-in-law Mindy; and her daughter Dora Hilburn and son-in-law Scott. She is also survived by four granddaughters: Kaylyn Dalbom and her husband, Shawn Lawrence; Alison Dalbom; Katie Hilburn; and Andie Hilburn; along with three "bonus" step-grandchildren, Alaina Bonin, Matt Rodgers, and Jon-Erick Rodgers, and their families.
A special thank-you to the loving staff at Oak Pointe Senior Living Community where Doris lived the last 6 months of her life, as well as to the caring staff of Three Rivers Hospice.
Doris will be missed by many. Those who knew and loved her are sure to hear her beautiful laughter in the breeze, see her twinkly blue eyes in the summer sky, and feel her embrace in the arms of her children and grandchildren.
Visitation will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026, from 12:30 - 1:30 pm at Clark Funeral Home in Neosho. A Graveside service will follow at 2:00 pm at Macedonia Cemetery in Stella, Missouri.
Services are under the personal care and direction of Clark Funeral Homes.
