What Happens Next? by Gail Arlene De Vos

~ Bathi, Sharon, Brittany & TJ, Naomi, and Courtneyįirst, condolences to the Williams and Random family. Our love, thoughts, and prayers will be with all of you as we celebrate Lois’s beautiful life. That is what it was all about, wasn’t it? Love, caring, and compassion, about which she so artfully wrote to Ben in 2005. As I read Lois’s life accomplishments, when her feet were nimble and light, when she moved from one successful project to another, we can all feel the strong fabric of love and caring that she built for those around her. We were fortunate enough to meet Lois in 2009 when we visited Portland and relived precious memories and shared stories about our growing families. We still treasure it and will hand it down to Brittany, your godchild, when she will hopefully have her first born. Before our first daughter Brittany was born in Chapel Hill in 1993, Lois and Charles gifted us a beautiful handmade changing table. Sharon and Lois exchanged many ideas on sewing which they both loved. Charles played his washtub bass once and I recall a Dulcimer that he had bought from a mountain city in North Carolina showing up one time. The many times we had dinner at your house, it was accompanied by music and singing. Soon we become friends through the Newman Center where we attended weekly mass and met Lois and the Corrina, Kristin, and Ben. My friend Francisco and I were doing laundry while Charles was holding and lulling an infant while her mom could finish her laundry.

I first met Charles in a laundromat in Chapel Hill’s married student housing in Odum Village. I tell you this neither as someone who knew her well nor as someone who is very good at total recall, but simply remembering the many times Lois and Charles have shared with Sharon and I, a colorful pallet of possibilities in life from which we were able sketch our own pathways.

Dear Charles, Corrina, Kristin, and Ben and your families:

What Happens Next? by Gail Arlene De Vos