Doris McMichael

Doris Elizabeth McMichael, 94, of Kansas City, Missouri passed away from natural causes on March 23, 2022. She was born to Clifford and Merle Jones in Grant City, Missouri, and the oldest of three siblings. Doris was whip smart and skipped several grades in the one-room school she attended in the rural community. She earned a  journalism degree from the University of Missouri – Columbia and entered the fast-paced world of advertising during a time when women were typically in the advertisements, not writing them.

Working at Barickman Advertising, she was the original woman executive in the real life “Mad Men” where she created campaigns for some of the best known national brands including American Beauty and Rival Crockpot, and locally Milgrams and Safeway.  She won numerous awards for her creativity including an Omni, for a public service campaign for the K.C. Police Department in 1983.

She met her future husband, Wayne McMichael on a street car at 47th and Troost. She helped support him while he attended law school at what was then the Kansas City University School of Law. They married and had two daughters, Shelly and Heather, and a son, John.

Doris was highly intelligent, an excellent writer and an unconventional mother who raised her children to believe they could be anything they wanted to be.

Doris leaves behind her three children, Shelly Garrison (Glenn Garrison) Parkville, Missouri; Heather McMichael King (Craig King) Kansas City, Mo., and John McMichael, Kansas City as well as five grandchildren, Sean, Katie, Brian, Connor and Ethan as well as eight great-grandchildren. She is survived by her brothers John Paul Jones  (Carolyn) of Grant City, Mo.  and James Jones (Judy), Seattle, Washington, and numerous nieces and nephews scattered around the country.  She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Merilee Parker (Redding, IA). She will be missed for her humor, wit and creativity by all who knew and loved her.

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