Doris Fields Stalling Murray is a descendant of slaves. Her maternal Great-Great Grandmother, Zellia Houston was a slave and when she arrived to the Unites States of America, she was placed in Louisiana. Years later, her family migrated to Oklahoma. Doris Fields was born August 08,1944 in Idabel, Oklahoma to Lula Mae and Clemmie Fields, the third chhild of seven. Doris Fields migrated to Stockton, California (the land of plenty) from the family farm with her parents and two siblings, when she was a mere five months old. In California, Doris Fields and her family lived in a house built by her father and neighbors. The family’s meals were cooked on a “wooden” stove and the food was kept in an “Ice box”. Heat was supplied by the “wooden” stove and handmade quilts for coverings at night. Clothes were washed every Monday using “blueying” and “lye soap” outside in an old black “smut” wash tub fired-up with wooden logs and stick and placed atop a special made stand. The washed clothes were hung to dry on “homemade” clothes lines to dry. Water came from a well outside and their toilet (Restroom) was an “outhouse” located a few feet from the house. Doris’ Field’s father was ran over by a commercial truck en-route to assist family members and died when she was only 7 years old. After her father’s death, she worked in the “fields” every summer and holidays to earn money for school clothing and supplies. Doris, her mom and siblings cleaned the lumber yard and the offices where her father worked, prior to his death. She helped her mom whom she always and forever lovingly called “Ma Dea” clean houses and iron clothes. “Ma Dea” sought daily jobs to make ends meet to supplement the Social Security checks they received from her dad’s earnings.
Doris and her family moved to the “Sierra Vista” projects and received welfare and government rations to supplement their food supply The family’s favorite past time was going to church, “watching” the radio, listening to “The Shadow Knows”, and “Joe Lewis boxing matches.” The first black and white television did not come until many years later into the Field’s household. The family entertained themselves by writing and reciting poetry, singing, dancing, talking, and going to church, cooking, playing games and putting on family talent shows. Doris’s doll was the mop’s head of Ma Dea’s mop that she used to scrub the floor. As a child Doris was always very generous and unselfish. She often spent her last penny on others and always wished she had more to give. Doris’s mother and her maternal grandmother, Exit Washington Medlock, who everyone called “Big Mama” instilled in her the love and commitment for family and the respect, admiration and personal responsibility to care for the Elders.
When Doris was nine years old, her “Big Mama” requested her mother to drive her and Doris to the local “General Store.” Big Mama gave Doris .50 (cents) and told her to go inside alone, and purchase something to remember her by. Little Doris walked the isles for hours looking for just the right treasure to forever remember her “Big-Mama.” After much deliberation, Doris caringly and lovely selected a dignified, sturdy, beautiful, colorful and unique “Tea Bag Holder” which held four tea bags and based in a gold coated carrying rack with a handle. This special treasure was more than just a “Tea-Bag” holder; it represented a strong, proud, dignified, beautiful, colorful and one-of-a-kind “Big Mama.” From nine years old to this day, Doris has carried this “Tea-Bag” holder with her, from: 1) The old house behind Charlotte Lawrence, in Stockton, California; 2) Sierra Vista Housing Projects, Stockton, California; 3) The old dilapidated house on Miner Street across from the Cannery, Stockton, California; 4) The McClelland Air Force Base Military Housing, Sacramento, California; 5) The apartment at 6959 S. Throop, Chicago, Illinois; 6) The two flat at 7704 S. May Street, Chicago, Illinois; 7) and to her current home in Chicago, Illinois where it is proudly displayed in the dining room China Cabinet for all to see. Doris loves to tell everyone about her Big Mama’s memorable treasure.
During Doris’ Junior High School years she and her project friends were bused to the white side of town to attend Junior High School. They did not want to go to the all-white school and the school did not want the colored children to attend. Doris always knew how to make the best of a bad situation and to always look for the good in any challenging situation. She learned the other student’s cultures and she readily taught them her culture. Doris taught the students in her Home Economics’ class how “colored” people washed, plaited and pressed their hair, to her “colored” friend’s dismay. Doris also let the class know that several of the “colored” people’s daily food items were missing from the “Wheel of Good Eating”. Doris ran for the class Vice President, (Name of School) and was the first black ever selected. She was given the “colored” parts as the “maid” in plays and she spotlighted every play. People came from all over town to see Doris in the school plays. Whatever came her way she made the best of it and she brought about a change in the types of plays and speeches being presented and taught within the school system. Doris went on to win second and third place in the State of California Orientation Tournament in the field of Humorous and Dramatic Interpretations. Ma Dea and Big Mama were so proud of Doris. Big Mama gave my mother her “Brown and Mann” (the most exclusive store in town) charge card to purchase Doris a dress, shoes and purse. Doris looked like a beautiful black princess and she kept the dress, shoes and bag for many years.
Doris still has the shoes and purse to this very day because she knows and appreciates the sacrifices made by her Big Mama and Ma Dea to make this enormous purchase. Doris’s mother had to scrub extra toilets, wash and iron extra clothes, clean extra houses and baby sit for many months to pay for Doris’s clothes for the trip to Santa Barbara, California for the tournament. The whole town turned out when Doris returned home with the trophies that were replicas of the Oscar Awards and gold medals and she made her family proud. Doris wrote and recited poetry. However, she could never carry a tune. Her mother was the director of the Choir and she loved Doris dearly, but Doris just could not sing. One day Doris asked her mother if she could “Talk” a song through and she agreed. That Sunday, Doris walked across the pulpit and talked and talked and preacher talked and she tore the church up. Doris still cannot carry a tune, but she can talk, talk and Doris is still talking, writing and reciting poetry to this very day. She is well known for her one of a kind poetry that clearly depicts and honestly reflects the individual she recites about. That is a gift of God that runs in her family.
mDoris married an Air Force career man and became Doris Fields Stalling; they had two children. After he was discharged, they return to Doris’ home town and Doris resumed working in the fields. One day in 1964, when arriving home from working all day in the hot sun picking tomatoes in the sweltering heat, Doris’s mother told her that the United States Government had called regarding a job at the Army Depot. Doris immediately called and was interviewed the very next day by Mrs. Edna Silva. She was hired!! No more fields for Doris Fields Stalling. She was the very first and only one of her family generation to have the great fortune of working for the United States’ government. However, her mother’s two brothers held prestigious status as Government employees, of which they retired. Doris’s career as a Government employee officially began September 3, 1964.
Doris Fields Stalling, along with her spouse and two children moved to Chicago, her spouse’s home town. During Doris Fields Stalling’s early years in Chicago she always wanted to make a difference. She caught the bus on Saturdays and road to Madison Street on the west side of Chicago and volunteered to assist in feeding children at the Black Panther’s weekly feeding program. She was proud to join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his march in Chicago. Doris wrote proudly wrote letters home telling of her involvement in the Big City of Chicago, Illinois. Doris Murray is also very proud of the fact that she and her oldest granddaughter, Tialyr went to the Million Women’s March in Washington D.C. Many years later; Doris Murray made history and forever memories when she took all 7 of her on the First African American President’s campaign trail in Indiana and Wisconsin, where her grandchildren campaigned. They also all attended both inaugurations and balls. Their memories will never ever be forgotten.
Doris was able to be placed back on the eligibility list and her government tenure was transferred to the Veterans Administration in Chicago, Illinois. She subsequently transferred to the Internal Revenue in 1965. On September 25, 1966, Doris Fields Stalling career began with the Social Security Administration, where she has proudly worked ever since. (Needs clarity)
Doris Fields Stalling’s career began as a Clerk Typist GS-2 at the Chicago East Field Office located at 4731 S. Park, which was later named Dr. Martin Luther King. Doris was promoted on February 11, 1968 to GS – 3 Clerk Typist and again on December 29, 1968 to the GS-4 Claims Clerk position. On October 4, 1970, Doris was promoted to the Senior Claims Clerk, GS-5 and relocated to the Chicago Near Southwest Field Office, located 1775 W. Ogden Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. On February 7, 1971, Doris was reassigned to the Data Review Technician at the same office and promoted on October 17, 1971 to the Claims Technician Trainee, GS-6 and again on July 18, 1976 to GS-7.
From 1968 to 1976, Doris Fields Stalling was actively involved in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Union Local 1395, which represented over 4000 employees. Doris quickly moved up in the ranks of AFGE, Local 1395 and became Vice-President and then was directly instrumental in establishing the “AD-Hoc Council of Social Security Administrations Field Offices” and became its first Vice President, of Social Security Field Office nationwide, representing over 10, 000 federal employees. Through Doris’s efforts and leadership, the official “National AFGE Council of Social Security Administration Field Offices is still viable today. Doris often traveled to Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC working on upgrading the Data Review Technician (DRT) position to a GS 6/7. This upgrade resulted in a domino effect because it also raised the grade level of the Service Representative and Claims Representative positions. The National AFGE President gave Doris full credit for these upgrades. While involved in the Union, Doris revamped the organizational structure of AFGE Local 1395, which is still in place today.
On December 4, 1977, Doris was promoted to GS-9, Social Insurance Representative at the Gary, Indiana Field Office, 610 Connecticut Avenue. On December 17, 1978, Doris was promoted to GS-10, Social Insurance Representative. On MAY 5, 1980, Doris Fields Stalling’s name changed to Doris Fields Stalling Murray after she married Mr. Murray, who was a World War II veteran. On June 24, 1980 Doris was reassigned to the Chicago Southeast Field Office, located at 8647 S. Stony Island, Chicago, Illinois as a Field Representative. On January 25, 1981, Doris was promoted to Social Insurance Representative Supervisor, GS-11 at the Chicago Southeast Field Office.
From October 4, 1982 through January 21, 1984 Doris received a temporary promotion to GS-12, while on a special detail to the Social Insurance Field Office Staff Specialist (FOSS) position in the Chicago Regional Commissioner’s Office. On January 24, 1984, Doris was promoted to the Social Insurance Specialist on the Retirement Survivors Insurance and Supplemental Security Insurance (RSI/SSI) Policy Staff, which involved establishing and making policy decisions impacting the Agency. On January 12, 1992, Doris was reassigned as a GS-12 to the Operations Officer position where she was the first line supervisor of five Operations Supervisors at the Chicago East Field Office, located at 6349 cottage Grove, Chicago, Illinois.
In 1995, Doris’s family suffered a tragic loss when her youngest grandchild, 2 months old, died in a house fire and her two youngest grandsons ages 4 and 5 were severely burned over 80% of their bodies and they remained hospitalized over two years. Doris and her husband raised their six grandchildren which they subsequently adopted and raised. Doris has continually raised seven children even after being widowed, her youngest two are ages 14 and 17. Doris Murray became State Representative, Louvenia (Lou) Jones’s “Poster Grandparent” because of all the obstacles grandparents had to struggle with when their grandchildren were not in the “system.” Thanks to “Lou Jones” and the struggles experience by Doris Murray support and procedures were put into place to aide grandparents in similar situations. Doris Murray did not personally benefit from these changes, but her struggles paved the way for change.
Dor
On December 30, 2001, Doris was reassigned to the Assistant District Manager’s (ADM) position at the Chicago East Field Office where she was responsible for overseeing the operations of the office; in charge of Labor relations and served as the District Manager’s alto ego. Doris Murray remained the ADM until May 28, 2006, when she was reassigned to her current position, Management and Program Analyst, Technical Expert on the Center for Security and Integrity (CSI) staff. On the CSI staff Doris is responsible for conduction security reviews of SSA Field Offices, Teleservice Centers, Program Service Center, Disability Determination Services and the Rail Road Board Field Offices. Doris is also involved in fraud investigations.
Through the years, Doris Murray has received numerous monetary and non-monetary awards based on her performance and high achievements. The most recent distinguished award was the Social Security Administration Deputy Commissioner’s Citation award for her outstanding cross-regional and cross-component effort to complete the review and certification of user profiles using the Triennial Certification (TEC) Tool.
Doris Murray, who is fondly known as “Big Mama”, is an advocate for homeless children and children with disabilities. She travel city wide and in the suburbs brining her level of expertise to aide parents and children in need of assistance. Doris has been involved in the Local School Councils (LSCs) at Morgan Park High School; McDade Elementary School; Jane A. Neil Elementary; Christopher Elementary; and Lindbloom High School. She has been the LSC Chair for over twenty years. Doris Murray has always made a difference in the lives of those she has been blessed to touch and for the rights of others, she has always and will always fight give her all. Her motto through the years has been: “If you see me in a fight with a bear, please help the bear because “Big Mama” can hold her own.”
Doris Murray loves her job and would not take anything for her journey with SSA. When her mother was terminally ill, she was reassigned to offices in California to enable her to be close to her ailing mother, of which Doris is eternally thankful and grateful. The job was supportive when her granddaughter died and her two grandsons were severely burned; when her husband died and most recently, when her daughter died few months ago.
Most importantly, SSA has provided an opportunity for Doris Murray to give back, give to and make a difference. Doris fields Stalling Murray has truly given her all. Whenever she has been given an opportunity to provide service, she sends an email which ends with: “Thanks, for giving me the opportunity to serve.” Or, “Thanks, for giving me the opportunity to be of serve.” This sums up Doris Murray’s 50 wonderful years of service for working for and with the Unites States Government, the best employer in the Universe.
This “colored” girl who is a direct descendant of slaves, from the projects in Stockton, California; raised on the other side of the tracks; for 50 blessed years, has made indelible tracks in many cities, towns, counties, in the hearts and lives of others and without question, within the Social Security Administration of the United States Government of America and Doris Fields Stalling Murray is still making a difference.
Doris Field Stalling Murray has lived by what her mother instilled in her has a very young child: “Everybody cannot be a grand Oak Tree in the Forrest. If you cannot be an Oak Tree be a “Bush” for all to see; if you cannot be a “Bush” be a “Stump” on the side of the road, but be the very best “Stump” the world could ever see.
That is Doris Fields Stalling Murray’s legacy, that “Stump” on the side of the road that makes the kind of difference, that the world can feel, touch and see.