Doane Ellsworth Hartford, 98, was called home on Saturday, September 21, 2013, at the Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa. He was born on February 5, 1915, to Doane Ellsworth and Laura Elizabeth Sutton Hartford in Olympia, Wash. Doane served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was part of the troops that were sent to Japan after they surrendered as part of the ‘peace mission’. He was a salesman and a carpenter but had also worked at the Satsop Creamery and Rainier State School in Buckley, Wash. He enjoyed playing darts and pinochle. He loved to tell stories as well as write them. He wrote several very nice poems. He was quite the philosopher concerning life and religion. He was definitely a free spirit and had the attitude of live and let live. He had been a member of the VFW in Elma, Wash. Many families in this area had their sewing machine repaired by him as he was an expert when it came to machines.
He married Vina ‘Babe’ Ray on December 29, 1941. They had five children and were married for 56 years. Doane always lovingly called Vina his ‘child bride’ and though they were never rich in the ways that many people consider rich, they possessed the greatest riches of all in the love and friendship they shared with each other and everyone they cared about.