Lois Marie Skiles

Lois Marie Skiles passed away peacefully May 18th with her daughters at her side.  She is survived by her son Michael Skiles and wife Gael Coyle of Eugene; daughter Katharine Daline and husband Bret; son Kevin Skiles and wife Jacqueline Dickey; son Brian Skiles and wife Deborah, all of Salem; and daughter Jennifer Wienert and husband Bill of Madras.  In addition,  she leaves 14 grandchildren and 7 great- grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by her loving husband Raymond, daughter Valerie Skiles, and grandson Aaron Skiles. Lois was born November 2, 1931 in the Santa Clara Valley of California to Ada and Frederick Bohrman.  She was the youngest of 5 children, and her siblings have all preceded her in death.  Throughout her life she maintained close family ties to her brother and sisters and their children.  Family was the most important thing in her life.  This week there are many grieving for their loss of Auntie or Cousin Lois, Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma.   In 1949 Lois met her future husband Raymond at a church service.  He was stationed at Ft. Ord, California, attending the Defense Language Institute, and had gone to church with his Army buddies hoping to meet girls.  Lois and Ray had a brief courtship and then married, followed immediately by the start of many years of travel with Army postings and then Ray’s jobs – going from coast to coast and also living several years in Japan.  During the first 12 years of her 50-year marriage 6 children ensued. Lois then began her lifelong quest to be the best Mother and Grandmother that ever lived.  She began by instilling in her children her love of reading and music.  Whatever new town the family moved to Lois made sure all the kids had a weekly library trip, bringing home dozens of books.  She had a nightly ritual of reading aloud to her young children for at least an hour, sometimes still reading to the older children books she was reading herself (“The Hobbit” is one book she read aloud).  Lois loved music, and because of her encouragement her children all had a love and appreciation of music either informally or as a life-long career.  Lois loved her grandchildren and great-grandchildren without reservation.  She read to them, made cookies with them, went to their school activities, made them quilts – the list goes on.  Going to Grandma’s house was always a wonderful thing with memories that will never go away. During her married life Lois tackled a wide variety of jobs.  Her first job was operating an AV camera for the public schools, followed by work as a classroom aide both in California and then in Oregon, after she and Ray moved to Stayton in 1970.  She began her last job  for the Oregon School Board as a mimeograph operator and was running the print shop by the time she retired from State service in 1997. Raymond passed away unexpectedly in 1999 from cancer.  A wide circle of loving friends and family helped with this loss and the remainder of her life Lois devoted herself to family, friends,  and community.  She belonged to Sublimity Quilters, and over the years made countless beautiful heirloom quilts for family and friends.  She also joined the Friends of Stayton Library, where she was president for several years,  volunteering at the library bookstore right up to shortly before her death.  Lois leaves behind a large number of close friends, some lifelong and others more recent but all treasured.  We know she would want them to be happy that she is now with Ray and her beloved daughter and grandson.  Services will be held at a later date in the year.  A celebration of life is planned and will be announced when gatherings can be resumed. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Memory of Lois Skiles to the Stayton Friends of the Library, 351 N Third Ave, Stayton, OR 97383.