Doris (Hastings) Bier, 97, a remarkable woman with a joy of living and a love for others, left this world on Feb. 14, 2025, to rest with her Savior and reunite with her beloved husband.
Doris was born on Dec. 30, 1927, in Centralia to Lloyd D. and Melinda Belle (Niles) Hastings and grew up in Adna with her older siblings, Helen, Donald and Robert.
When the war effort needed workers, she answered the call. The high school sophomore graduated from Mechanic School at Cloverdale in Lakewood, wrapped a bandana around her hair, and excelled at her job at the Mount Rainier Ordnance Depot. A coworker who knew her father told her to go home and play with dolls. Instead, she won an E pin, a red carnation and a toolbox on wheels for her excellent work putting together Diamond T truck axles. Her stories about working on the home front during World War II are captured within the pages of “Life on the Home Front: Stories of those who worked, waited, and worried during WWII.”
After graduating from Adna in 1947, Doris married Clayton Bier, from Rochester, on June 13, 1947, with Janie and Irene Sato as flower girls. When his pastor and her pastor refused to marry them because of the Japanese ancestry of the flower girls, they simply moved the wedding to the Centralia Presbyterian Church.
She and Clayton raised five children — Nancy, Linda, Wayne, Robert and Peggy. Doris took care of the home and family while Clayton worked. She loved collecting dolls, which she did for many years. After their children were raised, Doris and Clayton enjoyed traveling.
They had been married 68 years when Clayton died on Nov. 25, 2015. She is survived by her five children — Nancy in Michigan, Linda in Oregon, Wayne in Chehalis and Robert and Peggy in Centralia — 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband, Doris was preceded in death by her parents; her siblings, Helen Wright, Donald Hastings and Robert Hastings; and her grandson, Joseph Bier, who was killed on Dec. 7, 2005, by an improvised explosive device in Ramadi, Iraq.
Doris enjoyed celebrating with friends and family. She was always eager to try new things, such as hopping onto a motorcycle or climbing into a bucket crane for a trip 105 feet into the air. A proud Rosie the Riveter, Doris enjoyed sharing stories of her life growing up in Adna and working at the Mount Rainier Ordnance Depot. In 2023, she participated in the annual Rosie the Riveter convention held in Portland. She proved an inspiration to many young girls and women.
A remembrance service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on March 1 at the Veterans Memorial Museum. The service is open to the public.
