Doris H Slater

Doris was born in Brooklyn, NY to Jacob and Rachel (Ray) Hoffman in the Orthodox Jewish Community. She moved to Los Angeles with her family in the early 1940's to get away from the cold (per her mother.) Her father worked as a dress maker and her mother took care of the home and the children, Estelle (Hoffman) Mendelsohn and Doris (Hoffman) Slater.

Doris graduated high school early and entered UCLA at 17. She wanted to be a fashion designer but went into education and began her 50+ years of teaching and mentoring. She went back to UCLA in the 80's to get her master's degree in education. She began teaching in 1954 at Long Beach Unified School District but after moving to Silver Lake with her husband and taking a short break to raise children, she returned to teaching in the Altadena School District in 1974. Doris worked in several Altadena Elementary Schools impacting thousands of kids. She taught in the classroom, as a resource teacher, computer lab specialist and assisted with teacher in-service and mentoring. Her greatest joy was seeing the students she taught grow up and return as teachers. Doris retired in 2003.

Doris met Richard Lee Slater (Dick) at an International Dance class when she was 19 and married a year later. Together, they became very active in the "Folk Scene" community along with Dick's brother and sister-in-law, David and Francis Slater. They performed around the state specializing in Slavic Dance.

Doris and Dick raised two children, Jonathan and Deborah, in the Silver Lake part of Los Angeles. After Dick passed in 1976, Doris singularly raised both kids who became strong independent adults. Jonathan passed in 2016.

After retirement, Doris became very active in GPACC (Griffith Park Adult Community Club) where she joined many clubs and activities. She became renowned for her "Trips" on which she spent months organizing, researching and planning, utilizing all of her skills from teaching and the classroom. Including "wrangling" the seniors. Her trips are still spoken about today.

Doris won a battle with Colon Cancer in 2006 and was declared in remission in 2016. She developed Alzheimer's in 2015 and slowly fought the battle until the end. She passed away peacefully and in comfort on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Los Angeles County. Doris was scattered at sea per her wishes.

Doris is survived by her daughter, Deborah S., 4 nieces (Julie M., Julie S., Linda S. and Laurel S.) 4 nephews (Daniel S., Steven S., Jeff G. and Robert M.) and multiple grandnieces and nephews. Condolences may be sent to: D. Slater, 1706 N. Occidental Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90026