Lois M. Everson
Lois Margaret Everson of Whitehall died on Saturday, January 16, 2016 around noon at Gundersen Tri-County Care Center in Whitehall, Wisconsin at the age of 88.
Lois Margaret Brotzman was born October 11, 1927, to Galen LeRoy and Julia Jackson (Johnston) Brotzman in Durand, WI. The family lived on the Modena Bluff, and then the Spring Creek area of Durand. Lois, along with two of her siblings, Gene and Dorothy, attended Buffalo County Normal School in Alma, WI, working at the Steven Jowanovitz bakery to pay expenses. She met Bob at a dance near there and they were married at the Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua, Iowa on December 11, 1948.
She first taught in country schools and continued to do so occasionally in the early years of their marriage. When they took over the Chimney Rock Store around 1955, she managed it while taking care of their four children. In February, 1958, the store burned down, bringing them back to Whitehall to start over. Thanks to the swift actions of the babysitter, Sharon Boero Sosalla, and a neighbor, Bernie Colby on a frigid night, the four Everson children were saved from the fire.
Lois resumed teaching second grade in Whitehall while working on her four-year teaching degree at UW-Eau Claire. As a teacher she was involved in the beginning of the teachers’ union and was an active member for many years after retirement. She taught many of the children in Whitehall in second grade and then Kindergarten, enjoying all of it, and working long hours during summers taking classes and evenings developing curriculum.
She loved singing in the church choir, being part of her women’s circle, and received strength from God and her church family at Chimney Rock, her church in Chandler, AZ, and Our Saviors Lutheran in Whitehall, where she served on the church council. She was a leader in our Boy and Girl Scout troops for much of her teaching life, receiving the Thanks Badge. Her church and community were important to her.
Lois’s interests were varied: she was an avid reader, sewed, quilted, and researched genealogy. Lois travelled widely and with many companions, first with her husband, then with her daughter Peggy, her friends, in-laws and sisters and kept detailed photo/journal memories of their trips. She kept active all through her retirement. During winters in Arizona, she volunteered at a community garden, and was active at Casa Del Campo, where they lived in Chandler. Around Whitehall, she could be seen delivering Meals on Wheels, volunteering in the gift shop at the hospital, and at Sunset Elementary. She was able to spend time with granddaughter, Amanda, babysitting, volunteering in her school in Galesville and becoming Gramma E. to those children up until their 6th grade.
After she hit 80, she slowed down considerably, but was still trying hard to get out daily for a walk, first using her hiking sticks, and later with her walker. She was afraid of what would happen if she didn’t keep moving.
She dealt with illness and losses in her family that would have brought many of us down: the fire that burned their home in which they lost everything, and later the deaths of her 18 -year-old daughter, her husband, then her adult daughter, and her son’s cancer diagnosis, twice. In her later years she handled the physical pain and limitations of arthritis, fibromyalgia, macular degeneration and osteoporosis like the trooper she was. She faced life with enthusiasm, interest, determination, love, and the opinion that we just deal with what life gives us and get on with it.
In response to the loss of their daughter, Ginger, Bob and Lois set up the Ginger Everson Scholarship to support local students in the field of Health Care. This fund is supported by local donations and is now managed by Gundersen Tri-County Hospital.
She is survived by her son Ron (Mary) Everson, Cortez, CO; daughter Ellen (Bob) Hovell, Galesville, WI; grandson Christian (Terese) Everson, Dallas, TX; granddaughter Amanda Hovell, Winona, MN; great grandson Levi Everson, Dallas, TX; sisters Dorothy Lewis, Menomonee Falls, WI; Jackie Christner, EauClaire, WI; and brother LeRoy (Paula) Brotzman, Georgetown , TX; as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Robert LeRoy Everson on October 13, 1994; daughters, Margaret (Peggy) Everson of Richardson, TX in 2007; and Virginia (Ginger) Everson of Whitehall, WI in 1971; brothers George Brotzman, Milwaukee, WI; James Brotzman, Fort Worth, TX; Eugene Brotzman, Prairie du Sac, WI; and nephew Ryan Christner, Eau Claire, WI.
The family would like to thank the staff and volunteers at Sunrise Assisted Living and Gundersen Tri-County Care Center for their enthusiasm, warmth and kindness they extended to our mother. We’d like to thank the firemen and our school and church communities for their commitment to be part of the residents’ lives at the Care Center. It was her great joy to interact with the children from our church and school groups who visited.
Memorials can be given to the Ginger Everson Scholarship in care of Gundersen Tri-County Hospital or to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church.
Memorial services will be held on Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church with burial in the Lincoln Cemetery both in Whitehall. Pastor Yvonne Marshall will officiate.
Visitation will be Wednesday, January 20, 2016 from 5-7 p.m. in the Jack Funeral Home in Whitehall and also one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday.
