Doris Peterson Galen

Doris Mae Peterson Galen was born on August 10, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan, and died on September 15, 2017, in White Plains, New York. For the past year, she had been living at the Kensington Senior Living Facility with her husband of 68 years, Noel Galen.

Doris was a remarkable, brave, thoughtful, and loving woman. Encouraged by a high school history teacher, she defied her parents' plan that she become a secretary and instead attended the University of Michigan at age 16. She was a leader on the Debate Team and was an editor of the school's newspaper. Throughout college, Doris worked as a stringer for the Associated Press.

Graduating college after three years, she went to Yale Law School when she was 18. A trip to Washington, DC, with other law students and a professor was a catalyst for her career focus. They couldn't find a restaurant that would serve them nor restrooms because their group included an African-American. After law school, she worked tirelessly to defend the rights granted all of us under the Constitution, including civil rights and women's rights.

Doris practiced law at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City for many years, where she co-wrote the appeal of the Chicago 7 and defended the Gainesville 8, among other celebrated cases. She also represented the Vietnam Vets Against the War when they occupied the Statue of Liberty. Doris had the distinction of arguing twice in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In the 1980s, Doris and Noel moved to a newly independent Zimbabwe. There she taught law while Noel taught medicine at the University of Zimbabwe. Doris trained lawyers and judges for the new country and contributed to the creation of Zimbabwe's constitution, ensuring that women had equal status under the law.

Above all, Doris loved her family and was fiercely loyal to her children-Peter, Ruth, Diane, and Laura-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She was happiest when surrounded by as many family members as possible on the farm in Machipongo, VA, where she and Noel had retired, always insisting that all could fit into their small house. Every visit there included a batch of her chocolate chip cookies, her coffee cake, and the smell of freshly-baked bread every morning.

Doris loved learning new things and could often be found reading novels and history-especially biographies. She also adored babies, dogs, birds, Scrabble (and enjoyed being a top player on a Scrabble site), and reporting the weather.

In her 90s, Doris continued to encourage all of her family to be thoughtful and kind people who contributed to making the world a better place-through work or personal relationships. Her legacy of work and activism will live on in her beloved children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.