Walking On: Dolores (Dee) Dugger

Dolores (Dee) Dugger

Aug. 19, 1930 — April 27, 2025

Our beautiful matriarch walked on April 27, 2025. Dee was born on Aug. 19, 1930, to Elsie Lampard and Cecil Webber. She was a proud Elder of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, and the second great-granddaughter of Chief Alquema of the Santiam band of the Kalapuya and Molalla Marguerite.

Dee grew up in Tacoma and graduated from Lincoln High School. There, she met her love and our father, Glen Dugger. They married in August 1948. Not long after, and with two very young children, Dee supported Glen through college and then dental school at the University of Washington. They settled in Fircrest, Washington, and two more children followed. In the mid-1960s, they co-purchased a home on Fox Island where the family would spend countless weekends and summer vacations with the Bisson and Chimenti families. That house would remain in our family for 60 years.

Dee volunteered for many service organizations as her children were growing up, but her favorite was being a chaperone for the princesses of the Puyallup Daffodil Festival. When she was 50, Dee enrolled in college at Bates Technical College in Tacoma and earned her licensed practical nurse certification. She worked for many years at Tacoma General Hospital until retirement.

Throughout her life, Dee maintained very close ties with her childhood friends who were also a part of our extended family. Dee enjoyed wintering in Apache Junction, Arizona, with her sister Maxine and mother Elsie, taking cruises, dancing, and sightseeing. She was a snappy dresser all the way to the end, her hair always brushed and curled “just so.” Inexplicably, she loved white zinfandel wine with one ice cube.

For the past decade, mom enjoyed the love and companionship of her partner Bill Irvine, who passed away only a few months before her. They would spend winters at his home on Kauai, enjoying the company of their friends and family. In recent years, Dee’s energy had declined but her overall health was remarkable for being nearly 95.

She had an unfortunate fall that fractured her hip. It was not operable and she was put in hospice care until she passed away a week later. Dee would want all of you to know that she was 100% ready to dance with her angels, and that she is doing great on the other side.

Preceding her in death were her parents, Elsie Lampard and Cecil Webber; sister, Maxine Ross; and daughter, Jody. She leaves behind three children, Randy (Kathy), Erin Reetz and Regan (Joanie); grandchildren, Katie Lemon (Chet), Randi Reikow (Nick), Christopher Dugger, Max Reetz and Molly Reetz; and five great-grandchildren, Carsten and Kylie Lemon, Olivia and Noah Reikow, and Amedea Dugger.

The family wishes to give a special thank you to outstanding caregivers Linda and Mary, the staff at Harbor Place in Gig Harbor, and the angels at Franciscan Hospice House in Tacoma. Dee will be laid to rest at the family burial plot on Fox Island. No service is scheduled at this time.