The first one to come along was a girl, they named her Ruth. The second grandchild born was a girl, her name was Estelle. Still no David.

She was the third grandchild born on her Dad’s side of the family. Hoping for a boy grandchild to name David after the Patriarch of the Shaffer family. After much deliberation, that baby girl was named Doris. Dolores was suggested, but dolor in Spanish, means pain and her dad didn’t want her attached to any thing like that.

Her given name was Doris. The decision was to give her Jewish name as Davida. (finally…a grand child named after David) All during her public school years, she traveled through classes with five other Doris’s. Teachers would refer to each as Doris and the first initial of their last name. So she was called upon as Doris S. There was Doris H, Doris F, Doris W, and a Doris G. In her last year of public School, P.S. 206, in Brooklyn, New York, she decided to change the spelling of her name. She retreated to her room, closed the door and proceeded with her idea. She took a blank piece of writing paper, divided the page into several columns and created different ways to spell Doris. There wasn’t much you could do with five simple letters.

Dorris. Dores. Dorice. Dorres. Dorys.

And every afternoon after school, she would go into her bedroom, close the door and keep writing her name those many different ways. She was determined to make herself different. She hungered to be individual, and not one of a bunch, as she always complained to her Mother. She would say, “I feel like a banana, one of the bunch.”

After about a week, she emerged and informed her Mom and Dad that she is changing the way she spells her name. Mom looked interested, Dad just rolled his eyes.

Actually this was the beginning of dorys by her teachers in High School, her doctors and anyone new she would meet.
Some of her schoolmates would say, “you spelled your name wrong” or when filling out an application for college, it was questioned, “Did you make a mistake?” It was 1943 and it was rare for anyone to step out of the so called normal. dorys was now evolving into her own slightly bohemian, very independent persona.

Eventually, she was addressed as… dorys with the Y. I did this in 1942. It is now 2025 (83 years ago, and do you believe I still get questioned with… ”Did you spell your name wrong?) ”. Todays typical mistake is dory’s. No, there is no apostrophe.

No, there is no apostrophe.

dorys now appears on EVERYTHING except my Birth Certificate. When I receive mail with Doris, its usually an ad or some group asking for money. It looks so foreign to me, and ultimately finds its way into the recycle bin.

That’s when I learned you CAN accomplish anything if you want and try hard enough.

Your friend,

dorys