Doris Fern (Stidham) Lilja, 95, of Custer, South Dakota, passed away on September 30, 2020, at Monument Health Custer Hospital in Custer, SD.

Doris was born on August 31, 1925, in Iona, SD, to Theodore and Pearle Nelson.  She grew up on a farm there and graduated from Gregory High School in Gregory, SD in 1943.  She then went to Vancouver, WA to babysit her niece, while her sister worked in the Kaiser shipyard.  Later Doris also went to work in the same shipyard, as a welder, from May 1944 to October 1945, when the war was over.   Doris lived in Roseburg, OR from 1945 to July 1958 when she and her daughter, Donna, moved to Hot Springs, SD.  She worked at the Lutheran Hospital in Hot Springs and at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Fiscal Department.   She married Jerry Stidham on July 23, 1965 and they lived in Ferndale, WA until June of 1973 when they moved back to Hot Springs, SD.  Jerry passed away in May of 1988 when they had returned to live in Washington.  In July of 1989 she left her beloved Washington and moved back to Hot Springs to be near family and "old" friends.  Family meant everything to her and she never regretted the move, tho' she missed her dear Washington, but she was near family again.  On July 2, 1999, she married Ed Lilja and they moved to Custer, SD.  Ed passed away January 9, 2006.

Doris was one of the original players of Custer's Last Stand Band and played with them for 10 years.  She was organist or pianist in her church since was a teenager, still playing when she was in her 80's.     She was also a member of Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Custer.

In later years her dad gave her what she considered a great compliment – that she was always helping someone who needed help.  An example of that was sponsoring the care of 2 Laotian boys in 1980 – refugees who fled their Country, Lars, to get away from the Communist "take over".  They were 20 and 21 years old when they arrived in the United States.  They soon felt like family and remained so, for the rest of her life, always keeping in touch with her throughout the years.

She is survived by one daughter, Donna Huntley of Oral, SD; two sisters, Joyce LeLaCheur of Rapid City, SD; Inez Kenzy of Iona, SD; and many nieces and nephews, all so very dear to her.

Memorial services will be held 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, October 14, 2020, at Chamberlain McColley's Funeral Home in Custer, SD.  Please practice social distancing.