Mildred Ruth Doucette

PEORIA – Mildred Ruth Doucette, age 90 of Desert Winds Independent Living Community, Peoria, AZ passed away on June 16, 2020. She was born and raised in Hackensack, NJ on February 16, 1930 where she lived for a total of 45 years. She was the only child of Harry Gerhardt and Ruth Ella (Reed) Weitkamp, deceased 1967 and 1984, respectively, and, therefore, is the last family member to bear the original “Weitkamp” name. She was a graduate of Hackensack High School and Berkeley Secretarial School, New York City. Her first job in 1949 was with The Griscom-Russell Company, New York City, manufacturers of heat exchangers and gas turbine engines. When they moved to Massillon, Ohio in 1951, she joined American Locomotive Company, later known as ALCO Products, Inc., in New York City as secretary to two sales engineers in the Heat Exchanger Division, later being promoted to the Spring and Forge Division. Little did she know then that one of her bosses there would someday become her husband! Also at ALCO, in 1954 she joined The National Secretaries Association (Int’l), which later became Professional Secretaries International, as a Charter member of Gotham Chapter, New York City, installed by the New York City Chapter, which she later joined. At various times she was Chapter president, vice president, recording secretary, and chairman or member of many committees. She earned her Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) rating in 1966 by passing a three-day examination sponsored by the Institute for Certifying Secretaries in Kansas City, MO. That same year she was voted Gotham Chapter Secretary-Of-The-Year and was runner-up SOTY for New York State. She served as corresponding secretary and board contact for New York State, was chairman or a member of many state committees, was a delegate or alternate delegate to local, state and international conventions, gave speeches throughout the state and wrote articles on the secretarial profession for local, state and international NSA or PSI publications during her 38 years of membership. When her job could not be guaranteed after a pending merger, she left ALCO in 1966, after 15 years, to join American Smelting and Refining Company, New York City, later known as ASARCO Inc., as secretary to the Patent Counsel in the Executive Department. After receiving her CPS rating, she was promoted to Administrative Assistant in 1968, successively working for the Executive Vice President, President and Chairman, with whom she remained until his retirement. She then worked for the Vice President of Smelting and Refining for five years, retiring when he did in 1986, after 21 years with ASARCO. She lived in Westwood, NJ for 17 years before moving back to her parents’ house in Hackensack upon retirement, where she intended to spend her remaining years after updating and redecorating it. She became a volunteer for four years, dividing her time between the then Hackensack Medical Center and Dellridge Nursing Home in Paramus, NJ. She loved to travel, including 16 European countries, Morocco, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Caribbean, Puerto Rico, and throughout the U.S., including Alaska, three times, and Hawaii, twice. She also enjoyed learning and sometimes teaching line dancing, attending theatrical plays, bowling for over 35 years, and photography. She remained single throughout her working career and married after retirement when, in 1989, she was reunited with Robert Doucette, her ex-boss at ALCO from 1956-66, when his wife of 33 years passed away. He had retired in 1985 as District Sales Manager for Edgewater Steel Company, Latrobe, PA. They were married in 1990 on his birthday, May 16. She moved to his home in Greensburg, PA, then to Arizona in 1997. Bob was the love of her life, her “knight in shining armor,” her hero, her best friend. He was known for his jovial spirit, compassion, love and generosity, and for saying “I love you” to his wife many times a day, every day. They were together constantly, devoted to each other, and were never apart for even one day during their entire, but too short, married life. They did everything together and were known for holding hands everywhere they went, often receiving compliments from total strangers for doing so. Bob died on February 26, 2005. Bob and Millie, as he called her, have once again joined hands with each other and with God in Heaven—forever. A Memorial Visitation will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2020 from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM at Heritage Funeral Chapel, 6830 West Thunderbird Road, Peoria, AZ. Interment will take place at a later date at Hackensack Cemetery, Hackensack, NJ, in the same plot as her dear parents and alongside her beloved husband. Contributions, in lieu of flowers, may be made to Metastasis Research Society (metastasis-research.org) or, for her love of cats, to 4 Paws Rescue (a cats-only, no-kill shelter), 11129 W. Michigan Ave., Youngtown, AZ 85363 or to your local animal shelter. Arrangements by Heritage Funeral Chapel, Peoria, AZ, (623) 974-3671.