Doris D’Asto

DORIS BROUSSEAU D'ASTO, Elko (Nevada) Junior High School teacher Doris Brousseau D'Asto, 73, passed away on December 26th, 2018 in Elko, Nevada from complications related to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). Doris was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1945 to Henry and Grace (nee Vayro) Brousseau. Doris graduated Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah in 1963. Previously she had lived in Amarillo, Texas and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Her family moved to Brigham City, Utah in 1959. Her father, Henry, worked as a metrology engineer for various jet propulsion companies, ultimately acquired by Thiokol, resulting in frequent moves by the family. Doris graduated from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah in 1966 with a degree in English and History. While living in Brigham City, Doris met her future husband and back-fence neighbor, Gene D'Asto, when he was installing ham radio antennae at his parent's house. Doris and Gene married at Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in Brigham City in 1967. Shortly thereafter they moved to Biloxi, Mississippi and then to Klamath, California, where Gene was stationed at Klamath Air Force Station as a radar maintenance technician. Doris began her career as a school teacher there. Doris and Gene recalled Klamath, on the Northern California coast, as remote, fog bound and filled with blackberries, bears. They often shared the back of a Honda Trail 90 motorbike with their beloved dachshund, Otto. Daughter Valerie was born there. After his tour of duty ended, Gene and Doris returned to Brigham City, moving to a home on Greenwood Street; her son Michael was born thereafter. In 1978, the family moved to Elko, Nevada, where Gene started a two way radio business. Doris enjoyed life in Elko, where she taught for 30 years as an English teacher at Elko Junior High School and Adobe Middle School. Doris enjoyed diagramming complex compound sentences with her students, teaching her favorite poets such as Robert Frost and Sir Walter Scott and occasionally lapsing into her (not-so) secret passion for Tolkien. She annually assigned her students to memorize dramatic scenes from Shakespeare and poems by John Donne. Doris coached the junior high cheer squad encouraging all students to participate; the cheer squad grew from 12 members to enough students to cover the gym floor, sometimes more than 50 participants. An avid reader, Doris devoured hundreds and hundreds of mystery novels, which are en route to the Elko County Library. Doris also adored her three shih-tzu dogs; they dearly miss her lap. Doris is survived by her husband Gene, her daughter and son-in-law Valerie and Roy Killman of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, her son Michael D'Asto of New York, New York, her grandchildren, Kinzey Roge, Dani and Tristan Killman of Oklahoma City, and her sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and James Tooley of Depoe Bay, Oregon, as well as numerous nephews, nieces, cousins and friends. Service for Doris will be held on Friday, January 4, 2019. A viewing will be held at 1:00 p.m. at Gillies Funeral Chapel, 634 East 200 in Brigham City, Utah with a graveside service at 2:00 p.m. at the Brigham City Cemetery. Additionally, a memorial service will be held in Elko, Nevada on January 20th at 2:00 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 777 Sage Street, Elko, Nevada. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made in Doris' name for a student scholarship to be made through the Great Basin College Foundation, P.O. Box 2056, Elko, NV 89803.