The service celebrating her life will be at 1:30 PM EST Friday at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, with burial at Culley’s MeadowWood Memorial Park. Family will receive friends 6 to 8 PM EST Thursday at Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, Timberlane Road Chapel (850-893-4177). Memorial contributions may be made in Lois' name to Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 4665 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee, FL 32309.
Lois was a kind, generous, wonderful woman who was deeply loved, will be greatly missed, and will always be cherished by the many people who call her family or friend. She was an amazing daughter, wife, mom, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, friend and brewer of tea.
Her life began May 5, 1933, the youngest child of Harry and Elsie Campbell of Totowa, NJ. An avid athlete, Lois played multiple sports, was a majorette and captained her women's basketball team to the city championship. It is in Totowa, NJ that she met the love of her life, John Gustav Engels. As the tagalong younger siblings of Jim and Bev Engels, their romance blossomed on baseball fields, basketball courts, dance floors, and rumble seats. They were married at St James Catholic Church in Totowa on August 1, 1953, and remained so until John's passing in 2004.
As the secretary of Memorial School in Totowa and a teacher's aide of kindergarten and first grade students at Epiphany Catholic School in Miami, FL., Lois was a tremendous, positive influence on scores of children across many years, as well as the seven children she and John raised.
In her retirement, Lois answered the call to volunteer at her church, serving the people of Good Shepherd with an open heart. She enthusiastically joined in line dancing and computer classes at the Senior Center. She also took on the role of pet sitter for vacationing neighbors.
Lois loved her tea and cookies and decided she needed to take up running in the 1980s to maintain her girlish figure. She won or placed in her age group over the years, even managing to hold the 5K record for the State of Florida women's 55 and over category for a time. Lois loved to travel, enjoying England, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Colorado, Beaches and Disney World many times in her life. The New York Yankees held a special place in her heart, especially Mr. Jeter. Season tickets to the FSU Women's Basketball games brought out her latent desire to coach. Lois was a voracious reader, with a very diverse library, but particularly enjoyed books that told a dog's story. She could listen to Scottish tunes for hours, loved all things plaid (she IS a Campbell, after all) and had a "thing" for Alex Beaton. In her later years, when she FINALLY began to slow down a bit, taking just two exercise classes a week, Hallmark movies were a favorite pastime.
Lois will be remembered for her intense kindness, compassion and caring of everyone she met. Her smile brightened every room she occupied and a kind word was always said. She cared so very much for her school, work, church, neighbor and Monday card group friends and will be sorely missed by all. The card group will no longer have to wonder if she's hiding cards up her sleeve — and that makes them sad!
Lois was the beloved mother of Lois Engels Montanarello (and husband Len) of Sunrise, Fla., Cathy Engels Sturmer (and husband Shawn) and Diane Engels McKissack (and husband Todd) of Tallahassee, Fla., John Engels (and wife Terri) of Gardendale, Ala., Lorri Engels of McMinnville, Tenn., Bill Engels of Florence, Ala., and Barbara Engels Lopata (and husband Al) of Littleton, Colo.. She was the proud grandmother of Terry Lynn, Andrew (and wife Kristy), Patricia (and husband Jon), Katie (and husband Jordan), Erin, Arlene (and husband Darren), Billy (and wife Velora), Anna (and husband Todd), Brian, Patrick, Christine (and husband Wayne), Bridgett, Kimberlee, Danielle, Scott (and wife Grace), Nicole, Heather (and husband Brenton), Elizabeth, Matthew, William (and wife Alyssa) and Ashlyn. She was the adored Gigi of great-grandchildren Austin, Luc, Jude, Annalise, Elizabeth, Turner, Bailey, Riley, Maxwell, Kylie, Jon Brown, Abigail, Isabel, Reus, Catherine and Isabella. She was also the devoted aunt of Bev (and husband Jim), Lyn, Patti (and husband Fred), Elaine (and husband Dave), Jimmy, Fred (and wife Glenda), Nancy (and husband Miguel), Dave (and wife Carol) and Cindy (and husband Joe) and all of their children and grandchildren. She will forever live in their hearts.
Lois was preceded in death by her husband John, sisters Bev and Elsie, her brothers-in-law Joe, Jim and Fred, son-in-law Bill, nephew Tommy and great granddaughter Kamryn.
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