Doris Virginia Jenkins

On September 24, 2024, Doris Ware Jenkins peacefully transitioned from her earthly home to enter into eternal life at Centra Lynchburg General Hospital after a short illness. She was born in Madison Heights, Virginia on April 30, 1933 to Andrew Ware and Carrie Washington Ware Miller as the youngest of their four children and their only daughter. After her parents’ divorce, she and her brothers were raised by her grandparents, Charlie and Rosa Washington, alongside her aunt, the late Shirley Washington Parrish, on the family farm in Madison Heights. 

Doris accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and was baptized in the cool waters of the James River at an early age. She was a life-time member of Lovingston Baptist Church, Madison Heights, Virginia, which was organized in 1873. Prior to leaving for college, she served as a vacation bible schoolteacher and pianist. In her teenage years, she joined other teenagers and family members to work in the tobacco fields of Connecticut during the summers.

She graduated from Madison Heights Negro School and went on to graduate from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland where she majored in sociology. While at Morgan State University, she was inducted into the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. 

Doris began her career as a teacher, teaching both English and Government at Central High School and then at Amherst County High School. As an educator, Doris deeply understood the value of academic achievement and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Education from Lynchburg College (now University of Lynchburg) in 1972 while she continued to teach. She was inducted into the Eta Tau Chapter of the Kappa Delta Pi, a national honor society in education, while at Lynchburg College. She ended her career serving as a guidance counselor at Monelison Middle School. She retired from the Amherst County School System in 1991 after almost thirty years of service. Her motto was “Life will be happier if we praise the good that we see in people.”

Doris was an avid tennis fan and enjoying watching Roger Federer, Serena and Venus Williams, and Coco Gauff. She enjoyed watching Duke University basketball games and pro basketball games, especially when LeBron James was playing. She watched the news every day, looking at CNN, FOX, and MSNBC as well as the local stations and was very interested in understanding the viewpoints of political opponents. She was very specific in what she considered acceptable and could readily spot a flaw, always supervising everything. 

In addition to her parents Andrew Ware (d. 1978) and Carrie Ware Washington (d. 2007), she was preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, James Ware (d. 1948) and Ella Ware Harvey (d. 1983); her maternal grandparents, Charlie (d. 1972) and Rosa Washington (d. 1966); her brothers, James Edward Ware (d. 2006) (Coretta d. 2003), Charlie Leroy Ware (d. 1981), and William Roger Ware (d.1976) (Joyce d. 2015); and her aunt/sister, Shirley Parrish (d. 2016) (Duval d. 2018). She was also preceded in death by her nephews, Charlie Leroy Ware, Jr. (d. 2008) (Althea d. 2010) and James (“Peewee”) Ware (d. 2019) and all of her aunts and uncles, as well as many cousins.

Doris is survived by her daughter, Deborah King, her devoted son-in-law, Dwight King, and her granddaughter, Valencia King. She is also survived by nephews: James Henry Ware, Sr., Jerome Ware (Linda), Gary Ware, Sr. (Frances), William Ware, Jr., Dennis Ware, and Darryle Ware (Faith); and nieces: Linda Ware, Sheila Haskins, Janine Ware, Sharon Ware, Shevella Crawford, Vanessa Anderson, Karen Ware, Cynthia Wood, and God given niece, Deborah Ware and her children, James Jamale and Jasmine Ware. She is also survived by many grandnephews, grandnieces, great-nephews, and great-nieces. In addition, she is survived by many cousins, including devoted cousins, Lil Winfree, Jean Woodman, Cleveland Rice, Edith Wynn, Evelyn Turner, Carolyn Cunningham, Marlon (Jean) Parrish, Marcine Parrish, Monica Parrish, Stacy (Mike) Gamble, Donald (Anna) Hargrove, and Cynthia Alston. Doris was blessed to have great friends, including Mary Penn, Shelva Jean Eubank, and Shirley Betts.

In addition to the loving care and assistance provided by Deborah Ware for over two decades, Doris was blessed to have had other faithful caregivers, Marie Coles and her daughter, Tailor, for six years and Brenda Myles for the last six months of her life. For over forty years, Ernest Laury (late Blanche) was always available to assist her with home issues.

Sometimes it is hard to understand why some things have to be. But in His wisdom, God had planned beyond our power to see. We cherish the 91 years of life with our loved one and leave the rest to God.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her memory be made to her favorite charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A public visitation will be held at Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg on Friday, October 18, 2024 from 5-7 p.m. A celebration of the life of Doris will be held on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory,  Lynchburg chapel at 2 p.m. Ms. Jenkins will lie in repose one hour prior to service.

Tharp Funeral Home Lynchburg is serving the family.