Background and Island Life
Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1923, Doris Wernstedt grew up in a family with strong ties to and a love of the great outdoors. Her parents were Lage and Adele (Dotty) Wernstedt – Lage was a noted surveyer, cartographer and photographer for the U.S. Forest Service, whose work included surveys of the Cascade ranges and Pasayten Wilderness.
Doris Burn’s author and artist statements frequently reference her childhood dream to live on an island. In 1934, the Wernstedts acquired land on Waldron island and built a summer cabin there (Lage and Dotty would move to Guemes Island in 1950). This image shows young Doris (kneeling with a dog named Joker) in front of the Wernstedt cabin on Waldron in 1936. Also pictured (left to right) are her mother Dotty, brother Fred, an unidentified individual, Lage and Gavin MacNaught.
The Wernstedt family forged close friendships with fellow Waldron island residents June and Farrar Burn. Included in this image are Adele (Dotty) Wernstedt, Doris Wernstedt (striped shirt), and June Burn (seated next to Doris). Photograph undated (approximately 1940s).
June Burn was a journalist and writer, whose work included Living High: An Unconventional Autobiography (1941), as well as 100 Days In the San Juans: a 1946 Voyage through the San Juans (1946). The June and Farrar Burn Family Papers are also archived and available at Western, as part of the holdings of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.
Doris Wernstedt married South (Bob) Burn, the younger son of June and Farrar Burn, at the end of World War II. After their wedding, she completed her B.A. in General Studies at the University of Washington in 1947 and later attended Oregon State and the University of Hawaii, where she received a certificate in Teaching. The couple choose to settle back on Waldron island, residing in a cabin at Fishery Point. Like other islanders, the Burn family lived without electricity, running water or telephones – all outside mail and supplies (including paper, ink and pens for artwork) were delivered via boat.
Pages from an album of house plans, as imagined by Doris and South Burn in the early years of their marriage and while living in Hawaii. Burn writes, “We spent many hours drawing house plans. It was one sure way to get us out of the dumps.” Album undated (approximately 1947).
This image shows South and Doris (Bob and Doe) near the Burn family cabin in 1962, with their children: Robin Skye, Mark, Cameron and Lisa. The couple's separation occurred in 1955, when South left the island to work in Seattle. Doris was a single parent, living with four children on $150 a month, which South sent from off-island work, until 1963, when their elder daughter Robin Skye reached high school age. In order to accommodate her needs, South returned to the island to care for the two boys, while Doris spent the school year in Bellingham with the two girls. After Lisa graduated from high school, Doris moved to Oakland, California, where she no longer wrote or illustrated. She eventually moved to Guemes Island to care for her elderly mother, where she remained until her final move to Bellingham.