Wife of WSU football coach Doba dies

PULLMAN – Judy Doba, wife of Washington State University football coach Bill Doba, died Friday morning after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 65.

Judy Doba grew up in South Bend, Ind., and met her future husband as a freshman at Ball State University. They were wed the day before their college graduation and had been married 43 years.

“I cannot adequately convey our thank you to the Cougar nation and Pullman community for the overwhelming support they have shown our family through the many cards, letters and flowers we have received in recent months,” Bill Doba said in a statement released by WSU.

Her life was not, however, defined solely by her husband’s job as a Cougars assistant and then head coach.

After moving to the Palouse, Judy Doba became a force in the community, lending her time to a number of charitable causes.

Among others, she was an active member of the Kiwanis Club, was the president of the auxiliary board at Pullman Regional Hospital and served on the board of the local United Way chapter.

“She just had great energy and she just really supported the community,” Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson said. “She will be sorely missed.

“She was a very giving and very caring person, just very friendly to everyone.”

After leaving the United Way board in December, she was honored with the Red Feather Award in January, given to a member of the community who has helped build a stronger, compassionate local environment.

“It’s not only a loss to Bill, which I know will be lifelong for him,” said Debbie Sherman, executive director of the United Way in Pullman. “It’s a loss for the community in ways so many people are basically unaware.

“Judy was just a very sweet person, and I don’t use that term about a lot of people. She was gracious. She was a lady. That was evident in whatever she did. It was done with dignity and with a passion.”

While she was an active member of the community, Doba shunned the publicity that could have come along with her position, opting to keep her illness out of the limelight.

She also acted as a silent force behind her husband’s public persona, scolding him in private when his statements to the media were grammatically incorrect.

“I think she can rest assured, and her family can, that she will be fondly remembered for many, many years in this community,” Sherman said.

Judy Doba, nee Claycomb, is survived by her husband; one son, Scott; two daughters, Kristen and Beth; and six grandchildren.

A private funeral for family members will be held in Indiana. The Doba family requests that in lieu of flowers, charitable donations be made to the Pullman Regional Hospital Auxiliary’s Patient Comfort unit (835 SE Bishop Boulevard), the United Way of Pullman (425 East Main Street), or the St. Thomas More Chapel and Catholic Newman Center in Pullman (820 NE B Street).