Doris Courville, 88, of Burlington, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, November 7th, in the presence of God and her loving family. She was born in Burlington on April 6, 1930, the daughter of Herman and Geneva (Alix) Giroux and attended St. Joseph School and Cathedral High School. Fierce love of her family and her Catholic faith were the very essence of Doris, the pillars she lived and breathed by every day of her life. As the oldest child growing up during the Depression Era, Doris demonstrated that deep love of her family at an early age by helping her parents to care for her younger siblings and with light chores around the house. Following high school, she immediately went to work at Liggett’s Rexall Drug Store and managed the Cosmetics Department. Each week, she gave half of her earnings to her parents without ever having been asked to and continued to help her parents at home in every way she could. On June 26, 1954, she married the love of her life, Ernest Courville, at St. Joseph’s Church in Burlington, and she became a devoted wife and mother to their three children. Together, they provided a stable and loving family life, teaching their children the importance of faith and family by living the example every day. Doris showed her love in everything she did, whether encouraging her children, cooking incredible meals on a daily basis, scrupulously cleaning and decorating the home to create a warm and inviting environment, volunteering time at the St. Joseph School library, contributing to endless bake sales for school fundraising and in countless other ways. Most importantly, she taught us to pray together as a family, commonly through the rosary immediately after dinner. Each of the five members of the family was responsible for leading one decade of the rosary. No exceptions. No excuses. Weekly Mass attendance, observance of Holy Days and regular participation of the sacraments as a family were absolutely non-negotiable. Her singular focus was to instill an unbreakable bond of faith and family to her children, referring to this as the lifeline that would carry us through anything we could ever face within our own lives. The wisdom she had. The gift she gave us. Ernest passed away in 1974, leaving Doris way too soon. She was devastated. Following his passing, she had his wedding band sized and placed it on her finger where it remained for the next 44 years until the very day of her own passing. There wasn’t a day when she ever stopped loving him and she missed him terribly. Placing her trust in God’s hands, she re-entered the work force following a twenty year absence and spent the next twenty years working at Magram’s Department Store in the Coast & Dresses department. Doris was gifted with an eye for color and a sense of fashion and it didn’t take her long to build a clientele who would ask for her whenever they visited the store. Management recognized her talent and asked Doris to work on some displays for the store, a task that she enjoyed. Following the closure of Magram’s in 1991, she spent the next ten years working as a cashier at Simon’s Downtown Quick Stop, enjoying the interaction with the customers and seeing her son in-law. Following her retirement, Doris focused on her hobbies of decorating her home, gardening and drowning her three grandchildren with boundless love. She was content. As the years passed and her health declined, the lifetime of selfless love and sacrifice she gave to her family came back to her. It was her turn to be taken care of and her family did just that, coming together to do everything possible to keep her at home until the last few days of her life. She was granted the gift of time to be with her family, to say what she wanted to say to each of us, to receive the sacraments and to pass peacefully into the waiting arms of her husband. Well done, Mom. We are grateful. Doris leaves behind her three daughters and their families, Jacqueline Courville, Claire Ratushny and her husband Jan, Jeannine Handy, her husband Joseph and their children, Kristen, Matthew and Joe. She also leaves behind her dear sister, Jeannine Reed, and her children, Shawn Reed, Shelly O’Brien and husband Peter, and Scott Reed and wife Laura, their families and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, her brothers Richard & Roger Giroux, her sister Claire Brissette, a very special brother in-law, Larry Reed; by her wonderful parents-in-law, Jean and Cecille Courville and several brothers and sisters-in-law. Visitation will be held at LaVigne Funeral Home in Winooski on Monday November 12th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Francis Xavier Church in Winooski on Tuesday, November 13th at 10 a.m. with interment immediately afterward at the New Mount Calvary Cemetery in Burlington. The family would like to express its deep gratitude to the many people who cared for Doris with such compassion, especially Dr. Qin, nurses Edward and Jessica, the multitude of medical staff at the UVM Medical Center, the Visiting Nurse Association and the entire staff at the McClure Miller Respite House. We give very special thanks to Dr. John Miller for his years of truly extraordinary care and his deep compassion.