Lois J. Ellison

Lois J. Ellison was born Lois Jeanne Christopherson on July 7, 1937 in St. Paul, Minn., the only child of Arthur L. and Mildred Christopherson. Arthur died when Lois was 6 years old, and Mildred became a working mother.

Lois graduated from Central High School in St. Paul and was the first member of her family to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Hamline University in 1959.

In that same year, she married Roger Ellison. They had four children. Roger's career took the family to New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts before they settled in San Rafael. They also lived in India and Sri Lanka in 1981-82 during Roger's sabbatical, assisting the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Roger died in 2005.

Lois worked as a teacher in the St. Paul public school system until she became a mother. She later worked as a Welcome Wagon hostess and then began a 33 year career selling windows. She was employed by Charles Window & Door Company at the time of her death.

Lois was a friendly and outgoing person whose love of life and others touched the lives of the many friends, co-workers, seniors and extended family she leaves behind. She loved spending her lunch hour at Whistlestop's Jackson Café for seniors in San Rafael in the last years of her life. She met Luther Whitten there and they enjoyed a beautiful relationship. As a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church, Lois lent her considerable teaching skills and energy to numerous charitable causes, including St. Vincent de Paul Society in downtown San Rafael. She was active in the Lutheran Women's Missionary League for more than 50 years and served on a relief mission in West Africa in the 1990s. She loved music; she sang in church choirs for most of her life and frequently attended ballet, symphony and opera performances. Lois was an avid fan of the San Rafael Pacifics baseball team.

She is the best mother in the world to her four children, Steven (Jae) Ellison of Reno, Nev., Jolene (Douglas) Macpherson of Novato, Calif., Suzanne Walker of Novato, Calif., and Michael (Yasemin) Ellison of Bristol, United Kingdom, and devoted to her four grandchildren, Rachel, David, Brandon, and Austin.