Doris Flowers

Doris Butler Flowers (Dee) passed away peacefully surrounded by her family and friends at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital on Wednesday, November 27, 2019. Doris was 92, and a longtime resident of Baton Rouge.

Doris is survived by her children Cathy Flowers Raziano (Bobby), Steven Louis Flowers (Ginny), Becky Flowers Bradley (Bruce); grandchildren Christy Bradley Robertson, Elizabeth Bradley Fife (Derek), and Charles Adam Bradley (Jen); great grandchildren Kathryn Weilbacher, Callie Robertson, John Michael Robertson, Ella Fife, Bradley Fife, Charlotte Fife, Bryce Olivier, and Caroline Bradley; nieces Camille Butler Williams (Butch), Stephanie Soto Larrieu (Lee), Denise Soto Grant, Jennifer Soto Perque (Chris) and many of her husband’s nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Louis Summers Flowers, brother George W. Butler Jr., sister Gwen Butler Soto, nephew George W. Butler III, and parents Olympia Gavidia Butler Axtens and George W. Butler Sr.

Doris was born December 31, 1926 in La Ceiba, Honduras where she lived with her family until the age of 2. Her family moved to Reserve, Louisiana where they lived until George accepted a job with the United Fruit Company and moved his family to Progresso, Honduras. Doris went to an American School in La Lima until she was 13, when her parents sent her to a boarding high school in Brooklyn, Mississippi. After her first year of high school, she transferred to Hinds Jr. College. She then attended Murray State College in Kentucky. In 1946, she enrolled in Louisiana State University where she met the love of her life, Louis, who adored her from the first time they met. They married in 1947 and settled in Baton Rouge. After brief stints as secretary for the LSU Agriculture Department and the Baton Rouge General Pathology Department, Doris began a 32-year career in the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board’s transportation department. She developed and monitored all school bus routes, working with all bus drivers for the parish, and dealing with the public. The bus drivers showed their love for her at a retirement party they hosted, calling her the “Angel of Transportation”. She retired from the School Board Office in 1988 and became scheduler for her former boss, Tom Ed McHugh, in his campaign for Mayor-President. Doris served as Mayor McHugh’s administrative assistant from 1989 to 2000 during his terms as Mayor-President, where she was actively involved in organizing many community and charitable events, including the Special Olympics. Doris was a former member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church and is a current member of St. Jude Catholic Church. “Dee” loved just spending time with her family, and she was the best grandmother any kid could ask for. She enjoyed travelling all over with her family, especially trips to the beach with her grandkids and their friends. In her youth, Doris enjoyed dancing, golfing, and swimming. Her swim stroke had no equal. Later she enjoyed working in her gardens, attending LSU baseball games, working crossword puzzles, and playing solitaire.

Visitation will be at Resthaven Funeral Home from 12:00 pm until 3:00 pm on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. A funeral mass will be celebrated at 3:00 pm. Interment will follow in the Garden of the Last Supper at Resthaven Gardens of Memory.

Donations may be made in Doris’s name to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation (alzinfo.org) at 909 3rd Ave. Unit 220, New York, New York 10150 or to the American Brain Foundation (americanbrainfoundation.org) at 201 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55415

The family thanks Dee’s wonderful caregivers Kelly Johnson, Carolyn Johnson, Khadijah Varnado, Angela Morgan, Joy Landry, and Tasha Variste and would like to express our eternal gratitude to Kelly Johnson for her love, support, and friendship for the last eleven years