Doris Dana

Doris Jeanette Beekman Dana, 87, died peacefully August 7, 2021 at a Huntsville Hospital of natural causes. Graveside services will be held 2:00 p.m. Friday, August 20, 2021 a at Oakhill Cemetery, Nashua, Iowa with Pastor Todd Burrichter officiating. Family members are welcome. There will be a reception immediately following interment at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Nashua. The family requests no flowers. Donations may be made to the American Heart Association or the Alzheimer’s Association in Doris’ name. Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home in Nashua is handling all arrangements Doris was born February 15, 1934, in Charles City, Iowa, the third daughter of Carl August and Jennie Schroeder Beekman. Doris graduated in 1951 from Nashua High School, where she was a majorette. Following graduation, she secured a job at Northwestern Bell Telephone Company as a switchboard operator. She married Robert Eugene (Bob) Dana on April 10, 1955 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Nashua, Iowa. After living in Iowa, the couple moved to Pensacola, Florida where Bob worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Doris worked for Southern Bell Telephone Company. While living in Pensacola, they welcomed their three children, two girls and a boy. Sometime after their children arrived, Bob changed careers and began his Federal Service, working for the Department of the Army, which included moves to Arizona, Missouri, and Okinawa before they settled in Huntsville, Alabama where Doris worked as a secretary for the Department of the Army. Doris loved the Lord and was a baptized, confirmed, and active lifelong member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She was a member of Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church in Huntsville, AL where she served as a Vice President of the St. Mark’s chapter of Women in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; a children’s Sunday School teacher and volunteered her time in many other areas. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband of 43 years, Bob (2/15/1998); her sisters, Madelon Groen (Nashua, IA), Marjorie Mitchell (twin to Marilyn) (Charles City, IA), Marilyn Pencook (twin to Marjorie) (Lennox, SD) and her brother, Carlisle Beekman (Charles City, IA). Survivors include her son, Douglas Robert Dana and his wife, Susan, of Pensacola, Florida; her two daughters, Dena Renee Dana and her companion Darren Mannahan of Huntsville, Alabama, and Denise Jeanette Dana Williamson and her husband, Marlin; six grandchildren, Amanda Bailey, Sarah Dana, Zachary Dana, Emily Dana, Hannah Williamson and Abigail Williamson; one great-grandson Charlie Bailey; two sisters, Anna Mae Bahlman of Nashua, Florence McGergor of Owatonna, MN; her two sisters-in-law, Betty Dana Byrus and her husband Bill of Fort Myers, Florida, and Ruth Dana Drexler and her husband Ralph of Pensacola, Florida; and many nieces and nephews.