Lois Mae Yates

Lois Mae Yates, who lived in Lamoni from 1969-2005, passed away in Bettendorf, Iowa, on February 24, 2012. The daughter of James and Emma Jones, Lois Mae Jones was born on May 30,1930, and raised in Webb City, Missouri, along with her older sister, Leora, and her younger brother, James Jones, Jr. After graduating as salutatorian of her high school class, she attended Graceland College, where she met her future husband, Newell R. Yates. Lois and Newell were married on June 1, 1952, and when Newell, a musician, was drafted into the Army during the Korean war, Lois worked for a short time at a department store in Webb City, then as a law secretary in Wheatland, Wyoming (where she lived with Newell's mother, Nellie), until she was able to rejoin Newell in Louisville, Kentucky. After Newell was discharged from the Army, Lois and Newell moved to Leon, Kansas, where Newell was a high school band director. Shortly following the birth of their first son, Jeffrey, in 1958, the couple relocated to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and were soon joined by two more sons, Joel, in 1961, and Bart, in 1962. In 1969, Newell was offered a job at Graceland College as Dean of Students, and the family returned to Lamoni.

In 1973, Lois completed her Bachelor's degree in history and library science, then went to work at the F.M. Smith Library as a cataloger and secretary to the librarian. In 1978, she resigned from this position to earn her Master's Degree in Business Administration at Northwest Missouri State University. After being awarded her degree in 1980, she joined Graceland's faculty as an instructor in Business Administration. Soon after the death of Newell (who had by then assumed the title of Vice President of Student Affairs), the U.S. Government gave a Title III grant to Graceland to computerize the college, and Lois was asked to be the coordinator for this grant. In 1987, she became the Administrative Assistant to Barbara Higdon in the President's office, and later served in the same position for Bill Higdon, until her retirement in 1997. In 2005 she moved to an assisted living facility in Davenport, Iowa.

Throughout her life, Lois was a devoted and loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, teacher and colleague, and she will be deeply missed. She is survived by her three sons, two daughters-in-law (Cheryl and Debbie), four grandchildren (Stewart, Marshall, Halley, and Chad), four great-grandchildren (Newell, Peyton, Sierra and Avery), and her brother, James. Online consolations may be emailed to her family at: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Lois-Yates&lc=ceboo. Donations in her memory may be made to the Newell R. and Lois J. Yates Memorial Scholarship Fund at Graceland University.