Doris Marie Christensen
August 3, 1930 – December 31, 2023
Doris Marie Christensen, born Doris Marie Salmons on August 3, 1930, in Little York, Illinois, to Herbert and Mildred Salmons, was called home to be with God in Heaven on December 31, 2023.
At 93, Doris lived a very long, eventful, and fruitful life. She grew up in rural Western Illinois on her parents’ farm. After graduating from Little York High School in 1947, she took a job as a secretary for the Farm Bureau. Always career-minded, Doris pursued an opportunity with Northwest Airlines training as a ticket agent in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to Chicago for the position. While in Kansas City, she met Harold Butman from Jamestown, New York, while he attended school there as well. The two fell in love and after Doris moved to Chicago, Harold soon followed, where they became engaged and married on April 18th, 1953. They had three children whom they raised in suburban Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
At a time when most women stayed home to raise a family, Doris was a full-time working mom, building a 25+ year career at Union Oil in Schaumburg, Illinois. She was ahead of her time as a modern superwoman. During these years, in addition to raising three kids, she kept an immaculate home, maintained beautiful flower beds around its exterior, attended the Methodist church regularly, and sang in the choir. As a family, the Butmans enjoyed summer camping trips and journeys to visit extended families in Illinois and upstate New York. They shared a love of music that was bestowed on their children.
Early in their retirement years, after having traveled much of the U.S., they landed in Leesburg, Florida, where they lived until Harold passed away in 2003. Doris remained in Leesburg remarrying twice, first to Jack Geise. They enjoyed five loving years together until Jack’s passing. She remarried a second time to Vilhelm Christensen. The two moved to a retirement community in Altoona, Florida, where they lived out their remaining years together. Vilhelm preceded her in death by two years.
Throughout her life, Doris was a social butterfly, always involved in church activities, volunteering, and helping others. She enjoyed reading, knitting, cooking, dining with friends and family, enjoying good food and wine, and especially, her sweets. Her family knew the way to her heart was with a box of Fannie May Pixies. Her passion for music was evident in her participation in a gal’s trio performing the old standards, as well as her devotion to the church choir. Doris had a beautiful and true tenor voice, and she also played the piano. It seems fitting that her day of passing occurred on 12-31-23, 123123, as if waltzing her way to her home with the Lord.
Doris is survived by her three children, Diane (Chet) Pudlosky of Waukesha, WI, Walter (Eileen) Butman of Bonita Springs, FL, and Wanda (Rick) Speer of Wauconda, IL, as well as eight grandchildren, Erin (Evan) Searles, of Marietta, GA; David (Sara) Pudlosky, of Pewaukee, WI; Jacob (Rebecca) Butman, of Highland Park, IL; Adam (Aleks) Butman, of Carlsbad, CA; Ryan (Lindsay) O’Connor, of Lake Barrington, IL; Brittney (Byron) Neal, of Charlotte, NC; Bryn (Anthony) Vallango, of Lake in the Hills, IL; Lauren Pudlosky, of Waukesha, WI. Doris was a proud great-grandmother of fourteen, including Griffin and Simone Searles, Landyn and Logan Pudlosky, Cora and Ian Butman, Celeste and Trace Butman, Lucas and Scarlett O’Connor, Noah and Shepherd Neal, and Sadie and Lyla Vallango.
