Maxine Doherty

Maxine M. Doherty slipped quietly from this world on Friday, May 24, to go “home” to be with her beloved husband, Philip, who preceded her in death in 2012.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at St. John Vianney Church, Bettendorf.  Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service at the church.  Burial will be at the Rock Island Arsenal National Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House or to Habitat for Humanity.

Maxine was born Chloa Maxine Miller on January 24, 1921 in Milledgeville, Illinois, to Ida (Strauch) Miller and Edward Franklin Miller. As a young child she was determined to be known as Maxine, and so she was for the rest of her life.

Maxine graduated from Milledgeville High School in 1938 as valedictorian of her class. She attended school at Frances Shimer Junior College and at Iowa State College, where she met Phil and earned a degree in zoology, going on to work as a bacteriologist for the Libby’s food company in Chicago. She returned to graduate school at Iowa State, renewed her relationship with Phil, and married him on September 2, 1947 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sterling, Illinois.

Maxine and Phil moved around the country several times while he was in the service in the late 1940s and early 1950s, settling in Davenport in 1953 and finally designing a home which was built in Riverdale and where they lived together for over 50 years. Maxine was active as a volunteer with the Pleasant Valley schools PTAs, Girl Scouts, and as a member of the choir at Our Lady of Lourdes church in Bettendorf and later at St. John Vianney. After Phil retired they enjoyed traveling, with a goal of visiting every national park in the US. She also enjoyed gardening and reading, and was an avid crossword puzzle solver until her death. Maxine was always intrigued by new technologies and trends. She considered whole-house vacuum systems as she and Phil were building their home, in the end opting only for a whole-house intercom system, handy when trying to keep in touch with four young children! She eagerly embraced home computers, becoming an early adopter well before her children had such a thing in their homes. And she took her signature color -- turquoise -- and in her 90s embraced wild hair coloring with a turquoise streak!

Survivors include daughter, Cathy (Rick Johnson) Doherty and sons, Michael (Diane) Doherty and Kevin Doherty. She is also survived by 6 grandchildren: Aaron Doherty, Brian Johnson, Sara (Cameron) Abernathy, Santi (Chris) Grubb, Jane Palmieri, and Jennifer (Daan) Berks; and 7 great-grandchildren: Isobel and Reed Doherty, Max and Audrey Abernathy, Makayla and Khalil Grubb, and Piper Palmieri.

In addition to her husband, Maxine was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Evelyn, her daughter Margaret “Peggy” Palmieri, a grandson James “Jimmy” Narong Palmieri, Kevin’s wife Shari, and many maternal aunts to whom she was close.