Doris G. Ryan, 87, Delavan, Illinois died on Monday December 7, 2009. Her funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 15 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Delavan. Father Gerald Verdun will officiate. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Delavan. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday December 14 at Davis Mortuary, Delavan, with a prayer service at 8 p.m.
Memorials may be made to the Hopedale Medical Foundation or the Brunk Morgan Horse Museum, c/o Lois McDermand, P.O. Box 462 Rochester, IL 62563.
She was born Dec. 8, 1921, in Springfield, daughter of Loy S. and Helen Brunk Greenwalt. She married Edward Ryan on Aug. 31, 1948, in Springfield. He died Feb. 22, 2000.
Surviving are one niece, Janelle, San Mateo, Calif.; and six nephews, Richard Greenwalt, Austin, Texas; John Ryan, New Ipswich, N.H.; Richard Ryan and Robert Ryan, both of Boerne, Texas; Tim Ryan, Joplin, Mo.; and David Ryan, Atlanta, Ga.
A 1943 graduate of MacMurray College, she taught one year at Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Mo.; four years at MacMurray, Jacksonville; and 23 years in the Delavan school system. She was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Delavan.
She spent a lifetime breeding and showing Morgan horses and was a mentor to countless trainers, breeders and owners. She was a recognized American Horse Show Association judge of Morgans, judging since 1945 at most all major shows nationally as well as in Canada and England. Doris also showed the first World Park Harness Champion in the Morgan horse breed, Beamington in 1973. Doris was proud to be on hand this past September as Beamington was inducted into the Jubilee Hall Of Fame. In 1974, Doris Ryan was named Morgan Horse Woman of the Year. In 1997, she was inducted into the American Morgan Horse Association Hall of Fame followed by an induction into The Jubilee Hall of Fame in 2004.
Doris was also a past director of the American Morgan Horse Association and served on the AMHA Judging Standards Committee, AMHA Breeders Committee and AMHA and AHSA Morgan Rules Committees. She was a lifetime member of the AHMA, a charter member of the Justin Morgan Memorial Museum in Vermont and a lifetime member of the Land of Lincoln Livestock Breeders. Recently, she served as director emeritus of the Brunk Morgan Horse Museum located at the original Brunk Morgan Horse Farm south of Springfield.