Isabelle Doyle

The family of Isabelle Doyle announces her happy and peaceful death on September 3, 2026 at Sienna Crest in Darlington, Wisconsin, where she had been a resident in its assisted living area for the last four years, and celebrated her 102nd birthday this year.

She was born Isabelle Margaret Leahy on June 6, 1924, the youngest daughter and ninth of ten children, to Will and Anna (Swift) Leahy on the Leahy family farm located at the intersection of Hwy 23 and Dublin Road south of Darlington. Her family moved from the Darlington area to Truman, where Isabelle spent most of her growing up years and graduated from Belmont High School in 1942. She lived in Madison for several years during World War II, attending beauty school and contributing to the war effort by working in a factory. Her war-time story, including an account of the joy at the war’s end, was recorded for the Smithsonian Institution’s oral history project for the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, in 2004.

Isabelle moved to Shullsburg in 1947, marrying Bernard “Buzzy” Doyle and raising nine children in their home on East Water Street. In that home she operated Isabelle’s Beauty Shop for many years. Many long-time customers became cherished family friends—and some even recall holding a sleeping child in their laps while they sat under a hair dryer. Though working many hours each week fixing hair, Isabelle still had energy for work on the side, catering weddings and special events. In the 1980’s when many people her age consider retiring, Isabelle took on new employment—more like an adventure—working monthly shifts as a cook on a tugboat pushing barges up and down the Mississippi River, which she continued into her late seventies.  When she retired from the river, Isabelle oversaw the renovation of a new home on East Water Street and served as a regular volunteer at the St. Vincent de Paul store at St. Matthews in Shullsburg.

A life-long Catholic, Isabelle was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America.  She was honored for 75 years of devoted participation in 2021 and acknowledged again in 2026 for her 80 years as a Catholic Daughter. Over those years, she served as an officer of her local CDA court at St. Matthew’s Parish in Shullsburg and at St. Rose of Cuba City as well as in the state-wide organization. At the local level, she organized the CDA’s charitable outreach efforts, sponsored Shullsburg’s Boy Scout Troop, planned special Christmas parties, and coordinated the annual Smorgasbord Dinner at St Matthews.

Isabelle loved a good party and was often found on most weekends, even into her eighties, on an area supper club’s dance floor with one of her “dancing partners,” at a poker table or playing euchre. She also always seemed to break even at casino outings, coming home having hit the more pleasing jackpot of having had a great time.

Always skilled at handiwork and quick to learn new crafts, she took on DIY projects—refinishing woodwork, upholstering furniture, decorating walls with bold, flamboyant wallpaper, and making clothes with vibrant colors for herself and others. Her greatest passion for creativity, though, was in crafting beautiful quilts treasured by her family and her many friends in the community. One of her greatest delights was shopping for fabric and envisioning the patterns for her next quilt. For several years, she taught informal classes to small groups of friends at her home, sharing her love and knowledge of quilting. She once observed, “When I go into my sewing room, time just flows away.” 

Yet, Isabelle’s greatest legacy is as a witness to a life lived with purpose, enhanced by beauty, and grounded in such core maxims as “I choose to be happy,” “Live each day with an ‘attitude of gratitude,’” and “Keep knocking on enough doors, and one will open!” To more than one of her children or grandchildren, she advised that “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” Or dealing with difficult people: “Let it all go in one ear and out the other.” And in keeping with her gracious hospitality: “There’s always room for another plate at the table.”

Isabelle was predeceased by her parents and siblings, her husband, Bernard Doyle whom she divorced, as well as a daughter-in-law, Susan Richardson, and two sons-in-law, Paul Wright and Steve Chandler. Surviving to celebrate her life are nine children and their partners, twelve grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Among those in her immediate family are Terry Doyle (John Rebstock) and their two children Meaghan Doyle (Joe Herb) and Brendan Doyle (Sandra Keach Doyle); Colleen (Bill Foley); Willie Doyle and his three sons Patrick Doyle (Vicky), Kevin Doyle (Sara Fasano), and Mike Doyle, and their mother, Wendy Prokosch Doyle; Ellen Doyle (Andy Harty) and her three children Jessie Wright-Sexton (Rodney Sexton), Will Doyle, and Anna (Adam Reichling); Bernie Doyle (Aimee) and their two children Colleen Doyle (Greg Hitz) and Rory Doyle; Brian Doyle (Claudia Stoltman); Joel “JD” Doyle (Doreen); Belle (Jack Cowden) and their two children Mackenzie Cowden (Greg Lenth) and Keiran Cowden (Rachel); and Sean Doyle (Patricia Cumbie). Isabelle’s fifteen great grandchildren are Primo, Miriam, Isabelle, Madeleine, Indigo, Garrison, Aiden, Cooper, Sawyer, Mikaela, Landon, Atticus, Oliver, Ernest, and Aldous.

The family invites all to celebrate Isabelle with visitation from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on  Thursday, September 10, 2026  with the rosary led by the Catholic daughters to take place at 3:30 P.M. at St. Matthew's Catholic Church (344 N. Judgement St. Shullsburg and on Friday, September 11, 2026 from 10:00 A.M. until 10:45 A.M. at the church. A Mass of Christian Burial at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church on September 11, 2026 at 11:00 A.M.  Burial will be in the Holy Rosary Catholic Cemetery in Darlington. The Erickson Funeral Home in Shullsburg is serving the family. Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.ericksonfuneralhome.com.

The family offers its gratitude to the kind and caring staff of Sienna Crest in Darlington and to the staff who served her from Agrace Hospice.