Doris H. Mackin

On August 1, 2026, Doris H. Mackin (96) of Cary, Illinois, took our Lord’s hand and accepted His invitation to join Him at the celestial banquet table, where Doris’s husband had been saving her a seat for more than two years. Having faced all of life’s challenges with true grit, good humor, and “Pollyanna optimism,” Doris – the consummate hostess – is now the recipient of our Lord’s generous hospitality.

Following high school and paying her own way to do so, Doris attended what was then Northern Illinois State Teachers College in Dekalb, where she met the love of her life, Jack Mackin. (Not Reuban. No one cares about Reuban!) She left school one semester short of graduating to marry him and then to begin their family a year later. It so happened that Doris and Jack had each picked the perfect partner with whom to sail life’s unpredictable waters. Their union turned out to be one of the greatest-of-all love stories, a role model for those who came after them.

A child of the Great Depression in Berwyn, Illinois, Doris diligently honed and perfected her customer service skills through the years, beginning with a position at Sears Catalog Sales in the 1940s, onto the Joseph Spies Company in the 1980s, and ending with a sales floor position at Boston Store in the 1990s. Along the way, her customer service expertise proved to be an invaluable asset as Doris worked with her husband for a short time in his medical equipment business.

Doris’s youthful vitality, gift of gab, inquisitiveness, devotion to family and friends, sense of fair play, interest in and concern for others, encouraging cheerleading nature, hospitality, and sense of humor will be missed by all who knew her.

Especially in her last years, Doris truly appreciated and was quite touched by the kindness of strangers, as well as by those who helped care for her. We wish to acknowledge friends and caregivers Nancy, Edie, Jasmine, Addy, Jessica, Gemma, Wildy, and Journey Care Hospice, including Heather, Sarah and the entire hospice staff, as well as neighbors, including Ann, Ryan, and Debbie. Oftentimes, those who interacted with her found themselves receiving back from her as much or more kindness than had been given.

Survivors include her children: Maryellen Boswell, Maureen Olker (Steve), John Mackin (Robin), and Andrew J. Mackin (Joe Garcia); her grandchildren: Michael Olker (Jennifer), Jen Olker Willig (Brian), Amanda Boswell Seyer (Justin Yarber), Katherine Mackin, Kelsey Mackin, and John “Jack” Mackin; her great-grandchildren: David Willig, Shane Seyer, Carrie Willig, Willow Olker, and Makenna Yarber; niece Mary Kathleen Balgemann Ng and family, nephew James E. Mackin II (Theresa) and family, and niece Elizabeth Mackin.

Doris was preceded in death by her beloved husband John J. “Jack” Mackin, to whom she’d been married for 73 years at the time of his passing, infant son Donald Mackin, parents James J. and Ella A. Jirka, brother-in-law and sister George and Eleanor (Jirka) Balgemann, parents-in-law John (“Jack”) and Alice V. Mackin, brother-in-law and sister-in-law James E. and Char Mackin, nephew William B. Mackin, and son-in-law Michael C. Boswell.

Memorial visitation for Doris will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2026 from 9 AM until the memorial service at 12 Noon at Davenport Family Funeral Home, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave., Crystal Lake, IL 60014.