Doris Lee Hedler

1918 - 2019

Doris Lee (Sing) Hedler 1918 - 2019

Doris Lee Hedler, age 100, passed away peacefully at Ebeid Hospice Center in Sylvania, OH, on Sunday January 20, 2019, with family members by her side. During her brief stay in hospice, she spent time with her children, members of the extended family, close friends and her church pastors. Memories and love were shared along with songs on guitar, voice, violin and harp.

Doris touched the lives of thousands in her community and beyond with a cheerful spirit and boundless energy. She loved learning, teaching, travel and music; her church, raising her family and helping others. Her entire life would be characterized by service to others through teaching, counseling and volunteering. Doris’ constant curiosity and bright outlook, were central to her giving nature and lifelong community involvement.

Daughter of Charles Yuke Sing and Jung See Sing, she was given the Chinese name Gum Fa (meaning Golden Lily) and was also given the English name Doris. She laid claim to being the first Chinese girl born in Toledo: Doris’ father had documents proclaiming he was born in the US, enabling him to bring his wife into the country and raise a family despite the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. All seven of the Sing children graduated high school and college and Doris would proudly remain a Toledo resident, extolling the educational opportunities Toledo offered her Chinese-American family.

From the age of four, Doris attended Ashland Avenue Baptist Church (now Ashland Church), where Doris’ father learned English in the church’s school for Toledo’s Chinese residents. Doris became a member of the Ashland choir at age thirteen, prompting a lifelong love of singing, music and the arts. She remained an active member of Ashland's choir through her hundredth year, crediting her longevity in great part to rehearsing and singing every week. So many of Doris’ lifelong friendships began at Ashland and she regarded the church members as extended family. Ashland’s congregation included the Lamson family, whose department store would later hire Doris as a gift-wrapper, so she could purchase college textbooks. Over the years at Ashland, Doris would serve as Director of Religious Education, and volunteered for the many committees and board duties.

Doris grew up in downtown Toledo, helping to raise her six siblings while attending public school and helping her mother run the family laundry on Monroe Street. She was supported in great part by the librarians at the Toledo Library who nurtured Doris’ love of reading, the teachers at Lincoln and Robinson schools, the staff at Tiedtke's, Lamsons and the Lion stores (who helped her shop for the family), and the members of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, her lifelong religious home.

Having lost all but the bare essentials in the economic collapse of ‘29, the family moved into an industrial building on Dorr Street and Doris’ father moved to New York. To survive the winters, Doris and her siblings scavenged coal from the railroad tracks to heat the room where they lived over the laundry. In the summer they poked holes in the tin covering missing window panes to let in cool evening air. There, as a pre-teen, Doris would help with the laundry operation, shop for the family and bake cupcakes with a girlfriend to sell to nearby foundry workers. She would get her siblings to school, the library, art classes at the museum, and Camp Storer. In high school, she would make her own suits using fabric remnants from Tiedtke's. Doris credited her mother’s example of positive outlook and hard work for the family’s ability to thrive, despite the hardships of depression-era scarcity.

Doris attended Scott High School, where she met her future husband Robert (Bob) Hedler. They graduated from Scott with honors in 1936 and continued to Toledo University, where Doris graduated in 1940 with a degree in education and a minor in mathematics. Doris would pedal her bicycle to classes and back, then take the streetcar downtown in the evenings to work at Kin Hong Low restaurant or the Lamsons store. She somehow found time to also participate in the University Chorus, educational academic societies including Peppers, Mortarboard, Delta X, Pi Mu Epsilon, Pi Lambda Theta and Phi Delta Kappa. Doris would consider teaching her “life’s calling”.

After graduation, Doris taught special-needs children in Michigan and Florida until WW2 began, then returned to Toledo to marry Bob and raise a family. While Bob was at sea for the US Navy, she drove friends and family around Toledo in the REO sedan (“Patsy”) she and Bob purchased for forty-five dollars. After the war, Doris and Bob raised their children in Toledo, encouraging all seven to pursue art, science and education. Their home was always filled with music and art, and the family regularly enjoyed exploring the Toledo Museum, attending concerts, watching movies at the Jesse James drive-in and traveling to visit family.

Doris returned to the University of Toledo to complete her Masters in Education at age 50, and participated in many emerging educational institutions. She helped launch Head-Start in Ohio, developed special-education programs at the Penta Skill Center, helped found the UT Eberly Women’s Center, and taught GED classes to women at the Lucas County Jail. Her favorite occupation was Academic Advisor at the University College of UT, where she assisted students in self-directed programs, and helped launch the university’s first program in Institutional Health Care Supervision.

After retiring from the university, Doris’ volunteering went beyond Ashland’s walls to the neighboring community, where she helped found FOCUS, the interfaith organization supporting Toledo’s homeless. She would sit on the board of directors at FOCUS for over two decades. Doris also served as an executive committee member of the Toledo chapter of Pi Lambda Theta, an honor society and professional association for educators. There, she helped expand opportunities for educators and established scholarships for students pursuing education as a career. In retirement, Doris’ great joy was to hear from the countless former students who were encouraged and inspired by her enthusiasm for education and community involvement.

Doris loved travel her entire life. She travelled with Bob to his Navy training locations in Chicago, Princeton, MIT and Washington, DC. After the war, Doris and Bob purchased an army surplus bus from the prominent Anderson family, and outfitted it with bunks and a kitchenette. They frequently drove the “Happy Dragon Bus” to visit family in New York, New Jersey and Washington DC. After the bus years, they would visit Taiwan, and car-camp with the younger kids to World’s Fairs, Florida and the Eastern US. As “empty-nesters” Doris and Bob would visit their grown children in New York and New England, babysit their three grandchildren in Michigan, and travel with family and friends to Green Lake, WI, Las Vegas, Alaska, China, England, Germany, Italy and Australia. Doris’ favorite destination was the annual Sing Family Reunion, where she shared stories of her mother to the many nieces, nephews and their families; proudly proclaiming education as the foundation of the “Sing Dynasty”.

Ever the teacher, Doris chose to donate her remains to the UTMC Anatomical Donation Program, so that in her passing, she could continue educating future physicians and medical professionals. Gifts honoring Doris can be directed to institutions she supported: The Jung See Sing Memorial Endowed Fund for Asian-American Studies at UT (established in honor of Doris’ mother), The Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women, Leading Families Home (formerly FOCUS), The National Multiple Sclerosis Society - NW Ohio Chapter, The American Cancer Society, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Amnesty International, The Southern Poverty Law Center, The American Civil Liberties Union and The Committee to Protect Journalists.

Doris is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Robert C. Hedler, son Robert L. Hedler, daughters Carol E. Hedler and Rebecca R. Hedler. She is survived by her brother Edward Y. (Helen) Sing, sister Ruth L. Sing, son Charles E. (Maria) Hedler , daughter Susan F. Hedler, son Alan R. (Olga) Hedler, son Martin P. (Suzanne Kirk) Hedler , grandchildren Calvin A. (Jules) Hedler, Nikolai R. Hedler, Karl S. Hedler.

A memorial service for Doris will be held at Ashland Church, 2350 Starr Ave, Oregon, OH, Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 2 pm. Family visitation will be at Ashland Church on Friday, March 1, 5:30 - 8:30 pm and Saturday at noon preceding the memorial service.

Thank you to all who joined us at the event, and to all for sharing your messages of love and support.

This commemoration of her life and legacy continues with contributions by her family, friends, and members of her expansive communities. Please visit often and share your memories of Doris. The pages on this site have others' memories of Doris, and you can share your text, pictures, recordings and videos.