Lois M White

A private graveside service was held on August 5, 2019 in Greenlawn Memorial Park, Columbia, South Carolina.

The family wishes to thank the attentive staff at NHC Parklane and those at the adjacent Palmettos Assisted Living for caring for Lois over the last several years. Additionally, the family deeply appreciates the respectful care provided by the staff at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel as she was laid to rest.

Born on July 22, 1928, in Peoria, Illinois, Lois was the third child of Ellis Kingsley Frye and Elizabeth Prominski Frye. Growing up on Alice Avenue, she attended Calvin Coolidge Grammar School and Peoria High School. Lois earned Master of Arts (1981) and Bachelor of Arts (1950) degrees in teaching from Bradley University. While attending college at Bradley, she pledged Chi Omega sorority. Her Bachelor’s degree in teaching included certifications to teach in both Elementary and Secondary levels.

After college, she considered a career in Christian missionary; however, she married, began teaching, started a family, returning to teaching after a short break when the children were young. She taught Math, Science, and related subjects for 35 years in the Bartonville area schools. Lois was also served as an Adjunct Professor at Bradley University and worked with school systems to implement early computer labs and application for educational use as the new technology was emerging for use in schools. Teaching was more than a profession for Lois, she lived to help other learn.

In 2003, she left her beloved home and friends in Bartonville and moved to Columbia, South Carolina to become a caregiver for her two grandchildren. She supplemented their education and tutored the boys through high school.

During her spare time, she was able to travel to Europe with her Mother. She later was able to revisit Germany and enjoy a multi-country tour including a stay New Zealand with her son, Tom.

Choosing to be baptized into the Christian faith at 12 years of age, she joined Westminster Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL. In high school, she was active in Youth Group and as an adult, she served in various Christian education and leadership positions, including Education Superintendent for more than a decade. After her move to Columbia, she transferred her membership to Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, where she attended Circle, served as a Sunday School teacher and brought her Grandchildren to worship on Sundays.

After she retired from teaching, Lois let the artist in her heart come to life. She became an accomplished potter, making over 200 pieces and using a variety of glazing methods. She was also a painter and created a number of works focusing primarily on nature, flowers, and animals.

Lois is survived by her two sons, Tom White (Galveston, TX) and Jim White (Shelly, ID); caregiver and former Daughter-in-law, Ann Elsenheimer (Columbia, SC); three grandchildren, Aleksey Mohov (Columbia, SC), Samuel White (Columbia, SC) and Aspen White (Lewiston, ID); two nieces Linda Hurt (Marshfield, MA), Susan Snider Salmon (Unionville, IN), Brian Snider (Columbus, OH) and their families.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, her infant brother Bobbie, and her sister, Elaine Frye Snider.

A simple graveside service and following Celebration of Life was led by Rev. Dr. Ellen Fowler Skidmore, Senior Pastor at Forest Lake Presbyterian Church. Surrounded by friends and family, life photos and precious belongings, and garnished with Lois’s favorite candies of orange slices and Rollo bites, Pastor Ellen elegantly summarized the stories and recollections of her Grandson’s and others attending the gathering in a prayer of remembrance.

Lois was a woman of deep faith, a loving sprit, and strong convictions. Because her own words describe her most distinctly, these expressions, extracted from her spoken invocation at her Peoria High School graduation baccalaureate service in 1946, are offered in her memory:

Our Father, through our blindness and self-concern, we have increased bitterness between man and nations. By pursing our own interests, we have unduly hindered others. We have neglected Thy wisdom in our relations with our fellow men.

May we, the youth of today, gain mind and spirit so as in the future, to sow Thy love where there is now injury, discord, and sadness.

O, dear Lord, grant that we may become faithful citizens and make our community a better place in which to live, that the grace of charity and brotherly love may dwell in us and may quench the fires of ill will that are ever lingering about us.

Build in us, an ever-growing tolerance towards our fellow man and erase our prejudices, planting there the seeds of friendship and understanding.

Deepen our knowledge of Thy love widen our sense of brotherhood that we may become united against all evil. May we become a guiding generation – wide awake with belief in equality for all, cleansed of contempt against race or creed.

Our heavenly Father, grant that our present troubles may be overruled to Thy glory in the extension of Thy kingdom and the union of all nations in faith, guidance, and everlasting love. This we ask in Thy name. Amen.

Memorials may be made to Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, 6500 N Trenholm Rd, Columbia, SC 29206.