Doris Cheeseman

Doris Marie (Hildbold) Cheeseman, a native of Fort Recovery, Ohio, passed away on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at Swiss Village in Berne, Indiana. She was 97.

Doris was born, literally, in a log house on the Ohio side of the Ohio/Indiana State Line Road on Sept. 2, 1926, to the late Walter and Helen (Willmann) Hildbold.

Preceding her in death was her husband of 55 years, John R. Cheeseman, a native of Portersville, Pennsylvania, and a World War II Marine veteran. Also preceding her was her sister, Carolyn Hildbold Denney (Jess); and a son, Max Cheeseman, who passed away in 2019.

Doris is survived by her daughter, Jill Cheeseman Bowling, and Jill’s husband John. They reside in Michigan. Also surviving is her daughter-in-law Denice (Lennartz) Cheeseman of Fort Recovery; step-grandchildren Michelle Reichert and husband Ashley of Fountaintown, Indiana, Elizabeth DeWitt and husband Shawn of Urbana, Ohio, and Kurt Theurer and wife Mary of Portland, Indiana; step-great-grandchildren Jackson, Jenna and Claire DeWitt, and Abraham, Nora and Hank Theurer. Also surviving are two nieces, Phyllis Denney Strohl and husband Tom of Indianapolis and Naples, Florida, and Patricia Denney of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Additionally, there are numerous Cheeseman nieces, nephews and their children, many still in the Portersville, Pennsylvania, area. 

Doris graduated from Fort Recovery High School in 1944, where she was a member of the band and senior class secretary, and loved her roles in the junior and senior class plays. She kept in touch with high school classmates and enjoyed attending Fort Recovery High School alumni and class reunions.

Following high school, she enrolled at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where her mother had attended in 1916. Doris often recalled being “dropped off at the sidewalk of Hepburn Hall” by her parents. She loved her days at Miami where she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. 

On Feb. 4, 1944, during an unpredicted snowstorm, Doris married John Cheeseman at the home of her parents. Doris’s maid of honor was her sister, Carolyn. The best man was to be John’s brother, George Cheeseman. However, due to the storm, George could not arrive in time for the ceremony so the honors were done by Jess Denney, who would soon marry Doris’s sister, Carolyn. The newspaper account of the wedding reported 65 guests in attendance. The next morning the newlyweds left in a borrowed car pulling a 15-foot house trailer, driving to Longview, Texas, where John enrolled as a student on the GI bill at LeTourneau College.

John Cheeseman had loved trucks since the age of 6 when he would sit on the lap of his 16-year-old brother, Charles, and “help” Charles drive the milk route in Portersville. Thus began the life-long business — John Cheeseman Trucking, Inc., of which Doris was an integral part. 

In addition to helping with the trucking business, Doris was a public school teacher, beginning her career at Noble School in Jay County, Indiana, in 1956. Later she taught in the elementary schools of both Fort Recovery and St. Henry. In the early 1970s, she was a teacher at the Cheryl Ann School, Celina, Ohio.

Doris loved to travel, even if it was just a ride on a Sunday afternoon or perhaps driving a van of freight to deliver in Wisconsin. She often traveled on bus tours or train trips. This adventuresome side was perhaps the reason she entered a Mercer County Pie Baking Contest where she won first prize for her first and only ever strawberry rhubarb pie. For a time, Doris wrote a column for the Celina Daily Standard under the pen name of Martha White, a brand of self-rising flour.  

While her children were young, Doris was very involved in teaching children’s Sunday School at the Church of the Nazarene and Community Vacation Bible School, both in Fort Recovery.

A fourth generation Fort Recovery resident, Doris was a community supporter of many projects, including the Fort Recovery Historical Society and the Friends of the Opera. For a time, she served on Fort Recovery Town Council and was also on the Crippled Children’s Board of Mercer County. 

Doris established scholarships at Fort Recovery High School, Miami University and at Olivet Nazarene University. Her legacy of generosity will continue for generations.

Family will gather for a graveside service in the near future.

Anyone wishing to remember her may do so with a contribution to Fort Recovery Historical Society, P.O. Box 533, Fort Recovery, OH 45846; The John and Doris Cheeseman FRHS Scholarship in care of the Fort Recovery Foundation, P.O. Box 52, Fort Recovery, OH 45846; The Doris and John Cheeseman Scholarship at Olivet Nazarene University, One University Ave., Bourbonnais, IL 60914; or The Portersville Presbyterian Church, 1297 Perry Highway, Portersville, PA 16051.

The family would like to thank the wonderful nurses and staff at Swiss Village in Berne, Indiana, who cared for her like family. 

Brockman Boeckman Funeral Home, Fort Recovery, is serving Doris' family.

Condolences may be shared with the family by visiting brockmanboeckmanfh.com.