Lois "Loie" Keating Learned

Born in Brooklyn, NY, on October 30, 1932, to William J. Keating and Anne P. Keating, Loie was raised in Garden City, NY, and spent her summers in Remsenburg, Long Island, with her parents and five siblings. After graduating from Foxhollow School in Lenox, MA, in 1950, she received her BA from Connecticut College in 1954 and an MS in Elementary Education from Hofstra College in 1962.

At Connecticut College Loie won the Jane Bill Award in art, as well as an award for being on the most varsity athletic teams. After graduation, she served on the Connecticut College alumni board, raised funds for her class as alumni agent and class chairperson, served one term as class president, and was the class of ’54 correspondent for the quarterly alumni magazine’s Alumni Notes for over 50 years.

A private elementary school teacher in Nassau County, NY, for over 30 years, Loie taught at Miss Stoddard’s School for Very Little People (now Portledge School) in Locust Valley; Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn (first, second and fourth grade); and at East Woods School in Oyster Bay (fifth grade). She subsequently worked as a library assistant for two years. In 1964, she spent a year overseas teaching first and second graders at Nagoya International School in Japan.

In 1972, Loie married Leslie S. Learned, Chief Engineer at Mutual Broadcasting, Inc., and lived with him in Centerport until his death in 1987.

Loie traveled extensively across the US, as well as to Canada, England, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Her favorite activities included tennis, swimming, walking, writing, playing bridge, and going to plays and museums. She also loved reading and listening to audio books.

Loie’s extensive volunteer activities included serving as a member of various civic associations as well as the NYC and Long Island Junior Leagues, volunteering at local hospitals, working with the Port Washington Play Troupe community theater as an actress and backstage, and serving on the board of the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association as Recording Secretary and once as President. Loie was also a “Road Angel” for the St. Francis Catholic Church in Greenlawn, bringing local residents to doctors’ appointments.

In her later years, Loie was an avid painter and artist, regularly taking art classes at Pomperaug Woods retirement community, where she participated in many group shows. She will also be remembered as the “family historian” for her extensive research on the family genealogy and detailed charts of the family tree.

Loie will be dearly missed by her close friends and surviving relatives, including her late husband’s son, Stuart Learned (wife Sherry) of Mount Dora, FL; six nieces, Elizabeth Keating of Newtown, CT, Anne Keating of New York, NY, Mary Keating (husband Daniel) of Rowayton, CT, Carolyn Keating (wife Lisa) of Westport, CT, Suzanne Lukens (husband Stephen) of Riverside, CT, and Joanna Hurley of Santa Fe, NM; and one nephew, David Keating of Albuquerque, NM.

A viewing will take place on Saturday, July 20, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Spadaccino and Leo P. Gallagher & Son Community Funeral Home in Monroe, CT. A special remembrance will be held at 12:30. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Loie to RVNAhealth Hospice at RVNAhealth.org or to RVNAhealth, 27 Governor Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877.