Doris Zichy Grether

Doris Grether, 70, peacefully passed away in the early hours of Sunday, December 28, 2025. While the last year of her life was committed to overcoming cancer, her life was one full of faith, family, and friendship.

Doris was born in Asheville, North Carolina, to Thomas and Mary Zichy on August 12, 1955. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Thomas and Mary raised four children – Andrew, Bernie, Charlie, and Doris (the “ABCD” kids) – with an emphasis on following God according to the teachings of the Catholic church. This guidance led Doris to a lifetime of living God’s words through her commitment to singing in the choir of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Asheville, North Carolina, raising her children in the Catholic church, finding a religious home as she and her husband moved around the country, and leaning on her faith during the happiest and most challenging times in her life.

Thomas and Mary also instilled in their children a deep pride in their Hungarian heritage and an ironclad commitment to maintaining family bonds and connections near and far. Throughout her life, Doris sent countless holiday and birthday cards, babysat younger cousins, talked on the phone with her many nieces and nephews, hosted family members who were in town visiting, would seek out extended family members on vacations for a dinner, and embodied an expression she often repeated to her children that “family is everything.”

Doris’s commitment to family was not dissimilar to her love and devotion to the many friends she met throughout the different seasons of her life. Doris attended St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines, Asheville Catholic High School, and graduated from A.C. Reynolds High, traveled and sang with Up with People, worked as a bank teller for many years, sang in Sweet Adelines, and made many friends through her children’s participation in various school, athletic, music, and other
extracurricular activities. Her warm and gentle demeanor and earnestness endeared her to the many people with whom she forged lifelong, loving friendships.

Above all, Doris was married to her devoted husband, Tobias Grether, for 44 years. During their time together, they bonded over their parents coming from Europe, their fathers working together at Enka, their mothers being primary caregivers, their love of travel, and later in life, being parents and grandparents. Doris found immense pride and joy in her children which she often referred to as “the boys” – Matthew and Scott Grether. She welcomed the daughters she always wanted with her daughters-in-law Lindsay Grether (married to Matthew) and Madison Boden (married to Scott). Doris experienced a second, blissful iteration of “the boys” with the arrival of her grandchildren Nathan and Jamison Grether, who affectionally referred to her as “Gigi.”

Doris’s family will hold:
A visitation on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 in High Point, North Carolina, from 4:00 – 6:00pm at Cumby Family Funeral Homes (1015 Eastchester Drive, High Point, NC, 27262).

A visitation on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 in Asheville, North Carolina from 4:00 – 6:00pm at Groce Funeral Home (856 Tunnel Rd, Asheville, NC, 28805). 

A Catholic Mass on Thursday, January 8, 2026 in Swannanoa, North Carolina at 1:00 pm at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church (102 Andrews Place, Swannanoa, NC, 28778).

Immediately following the church service an inurnment will take place at Riverside Cemetery (53 Birch Street, Asheville, NC, 28801).