Doris Pilger

Doris Mary Morgan Pilger passed away peacefully October 11, 2023. She was born October 14, 1931, in Franklin, Texas, to George and Helen Morgan. She was the fifth of nine children and graduated from Franklin High School in 1948. After moving to Houston to attend business school, she met her husband Edwin Pilger in Houston at Cook’s Hoe Down. They married August 16, 1951, shortly before Edwin deployed overseas.

Visitation for Doris will be Friday, October 13 at Callaway-Jones Funeral Center in Bryan starting at 5 p.m., with a rosary recited at 6:30 p.m. A funeral mass will be celebrated Saturday, October 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Assisi Catholic Church in Franklin. Burial will take place at Henry Prairie Cemetery.

Doris and Ed moved numerous times in their early married life before settling down in Bryan. They had six children, 18 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren, and counting.

They opened Pilger’s Tire & Auto Center in College Station in 1975, retiring 20 years ago and moving to Franklin.

Doris enjoyed baking, cooking and sewing. She made all of her grandchildren quilts, sewed countless bridesmaid and other formal dresses and even made her oldest granddaughter’s wedding dress. Her family loved her homemade spaghetti sauce, mixed together, pumpkin and cherry pies and German chocolate cake. And cocoa pies!

She loved to play 42 dominoes. Everyone always wanted to be her partner because who doesn’t want a winning partner? They also enjoyed playing Pinochle with their friends and family years ago.

The family created many memories at Lake LBJ in the early 1980’s and 90’s. Boating, tubing and skiing, were family favorites. She loved being on the water and in the water, as long as her face didn’t get wet. And she never learned to swim so you wouldn’t catch her on the boat without her lifejacket.

Doris and Ed loved traveling in their RV for more than 40 years and made a yearly trip to enjoy the mountains in Colorado. They even made seven trips to take groups of their grandchildren on trips to Colorado over the years.

Doris was preceded in death by her daughter Mary Giles and granddaughter Emily Fritsch. She is survived by her husband Ed; daughter Cynthia Hughes and husband John of Camp Creek; son Rick Pilger and wife Beverly of Bryan; daughter Phyllis Fritsch and husband Lee of La Grange; son Adren Pilger and wife Susan of Navasota; son in law Lynn Giles of Iola and daughter Patricia Potts and husband Lance of East Bernard.

She is also survived by her sister Margie Dalton and brothers Mack Morgan and Jerry Morgan. As well as grandchildren Leslie Herring, Tracy Cain, Haley Hughes, Melinda Boehm, Jenny Murphy, Amy Clary, Valerie Stein, Elizabeth Allensworth, Casey Giles, Daniel Pilger, Seth Potts, Lori Giles, Jamie Darr, Victoria Heller, Katie Giles, Jayci Janecek and Shea Potts.

In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to the Emily Fritsch Scholarship Foundation, the Henry Prairie Cemetery or St. Francis Assisi Catholic Church.

Express condolences at CallawayJones.com