Doan Lusk, 80 of Vernon, Texas passed away on Monday, March 4, 2024,  in Vernon, Texas.

Graveside services will be held Friday March 8, 2024 at 1:00pm at Eastview Cemetery under the direction of Sullivan Funeral Home with Rev. Anthon Inman officiating.

Doan Lusk was born to Joseph A. & Inez H (Igou) Lusk in Chattanooga, TN June 9, 1943 with a Mason jar full of dirt from the family farm in Doan's Crossing, TX under the bed so that she would be born on Texas soil. She was their only child. Soon after the war the family moved to Amarillo, TX where Doan graduated from Amarillo High School and went on to earn her B.S. with a double major in English and Geology at West Texas State.  To help put herself through school she worked for fifty cents an hour and during summer break worked at the Amarillo Coca-Cola bottling company for a dollar an hour.

After graduation, Doan worked at the Pantex Plant, a major government operation responsible for maintenance, modification and evaluation of nuclear weapons.  During her 7 years with Pantex she earned her MA in English along with her Texas State Teaching Credentials and afterleaving taught English for a year in Hereford, Texas.

Realizing that public school wasn't something she wanted to do for a lifetime she joined the US Army when there was still a Women's Air Corp as a 1st lieutenant due to her MA.  Doan was one of 5 women officers to go to the Ordinance Corps. She commanded Women's Ordinance Corps basic training at Ft. McClellan, AL.

Doan was a staff officer at the Anniston Army Depot and was the first woman to work in the Tank Rebuild Center of the free world.  She would often go to the Pentagon to acquire passports for depot experts to fix tank problems around the world.

From 1980-1987 Doan served in Korea at Camp Casey, 18 miles below the DMZ, where she was responsible for all of the tanks and equipment.

After Korea, Doan was transferred to the Presidio in San Francisco, CA where she set up the first Race Relation/Equal Opportunity program after spending six months in training at Coco Beach, FL.  It's also where she fell in love with "her bridge", better known as the Golden Gate Bridge.

The next transfer was to Ft Hunter Liggett in Jolon, CA, the largest US Army Reserve Command post, to oversee the test of the first HUMVEE prototypes in a grueling environment in Monterey County.

Reluctantly, Doan transferred to Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio TX to be closer to home.  She would travel twice a year to Korea, Germany and Panama where she would take key officers and send them to set up practice deployment for the US Army Reserve and the National Guard.  She was offered a GS-13, a Civilian position equivalent to a major in the Army, but declined the offer.

The next and final transfer was to Ft Carson, south of Colorado Springs, CO.  After having given her country 35 years of service she retired and returned to her roots near Doan's Crossing where she could be found reminiscing in front of the house her great grandfather built when she wasn't practicing her favorite pastimes of target practice and loving her herd of kitties.

In 2008 the Doan's May Picnic Association, the longest continuing celebration in the state of Texas as recognized by the Texas Congress, honored Doan for her work as the association's Historian for many years by proclaiming her Woman of the Year.

Leaving to mourn her are her cousins, longtime health care providers and Friends

Visitation will be held Thursday from 6-8pm at Sullivan Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the Wilbarger County Human Society.