Former First Lady Docking Dies
By Mike Belt, Journal-World
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Former first lady of Kansas and longtime Kansas University benefactor Meredith Docking died Wednesday at her home in Lawrence.
"She was a wonderful mother and grandmother, and she had great relationships with so many friends," said her son, Bill Docking. "She lived an interesting life."
Meredith Docking, 78, the wife of the late governor Robert Docking, died a few minutes after 6 a.m. with her family around her. Bill Docking said she had been diagnosed last winter with terminal pancreatic cancer.
"Throughout her illness she was so brave," said close friend Kittye Hagen, of Lawrence. "She was a great wit and a lot of fun."
Robert Docking served as governor from 1967 to 1975. But while the family lived in the governor's Cedar Crest mansion in Topeka, Meredith never lost her simple ways, Hagen said.
"She was one of the first ladies who didn't go over her budget," Hagen said. "She was very thrifty. She was as thrifty with the state's money as she was with her own."
At the same time, Meredith Docking often donated money to worthy causes anonymously, Hagen said.
"She did a lot of things people, including her family, didn't know about," Hagen said. "She never failed to do what she could to help."
Meredith Docking was a longtime supporter of KU, a member of the KU Alumni Association and the Outlook Society, which honors donors of $500,000 or more through the Chancellor's Club, KU Endowment's major-donor organization.
In 1999, she donated $1 million to KU to create the Docking Faculty Scholars Award to honor and keep exceptional KU teachers and scholars.
"Meredith Docking's gifts to the university, as a volunteer, a donor and an inspiration, were felt throughout the campus," KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway said.
She graduated in 1947 from KU, where she met her husband, the future governor who graduated in 1948.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius noted Meredith Docking's civic contributions and "quiet strength."
"For eight years Meredith Docking represented Kansas with grace, dignity and warmth as our first lady," Sebelius said. "After leaving Cedar Crest, she maintained a respected presence throughout the state and was always a great booster of the state of Kansas."
Meredith Docking was well-known for her fondness for roses and was involved in beautification efforts in Arkansas City and in Lawrence, where she had lived. For her 75th birthday her family commissioned a California company to create a rose in her honor, Bill Docking said. They named it the Meredith Rose, and many of them can be found in Arkansas City parks and in Wichita. In Lawrence the Meredith Rose is in front of the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St., and in the Audio-Reader Garden next to the Behr Audio-Reader Center at KU.
"It's really a lovely pink rose and very fragrant," Bill Docking said.
Meredith Docking loved watching the TV show "Jeopardy," which once featured a question about the Kansas governor, and host Art Fleming mentioned that the governor's wife was a big fan of the show, Bill Docking said. Fleming signed the card with the question on it and sent it to the Dockings.
Margaret Gilliland, of Arkansas City, and Meredith Docking were Chi Omega sorority sisters at KU in the 1940s.
"She absolutely loved to play bridge," Gilliland said. "And as long as Bob was alive, she was definitely a Democrat."
Former Arkansas City state Rep. Jack Shriver joked that Meredith Docking kept her husband in line.
"The whole time she was in politics, I don't think she made a single enemy, and that's saying a lot," Shriver said.
Kansas Democratic Party Chairman Larry Gates called her death a big loss to the state.
"She was really one of the few left from that era," Gates said. "We are losing some really wonderful, colorful people."
Meredith Docking, however, didn't enjoy the limelight of politics, Bill Docking said.
"She knew how important it was for several members of the family, and she was always supportive of their efforts, as she was supportive to all of her family," he said.
Memorial services for Meredith Docking will be 10 a.m. Friday at First Christian Church.
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