Lois Carol Gutwig

Lois Carol Gutwig passed away peacefully at her home in Troutdale, Oregon, February 2, 2025 with her family nearby. She was 95 years old.

Lois was born to LeRoy and Chloral (Courtney) Shawcross on October 17, 1929, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Eight months later her father, a chemist and inventor, moved the family to New Kensington, Pennsylvania, for a job. At age 9 they relocated to the small town of Salina, Pennsylvania, for another job. This was during World War II and Lois recalled “blackout drills” at school and having to ration food at school and home. At age 13 her family moved again, this time to Portland, Oregon. Lois was an active student at Franklin High School. She joined various clubs and organizations, played french horn in the band, sang in the school choir, and worked part-time at a neighborhood ice cream parlor. Her senior year she was selected to participate in the Portland Symphonic Choir and the All Northwest Choir, which performed at events throughout the Pacific Northwest. She graduated in 1947.

Music remained a big part of Lois’s life. At home she played a baby grand piano and marimba into her 90s. Bumble Boogie on the marimba was a favorite.

After graduating high school Lois worked for Newberry’s Department Store. A year later she moved to Seattle with her sister Barbara, who was entering nursing school at the University of Washington. Lois enrolled at a stenotype business college to become a court reporter. She couldn’t find work in that field so she took jobs in the office at a publishing company and later insurance company, both in Seattle.

Lois returned to Oregon and her parents’ home, which now was in Hammond on the Oregon coast. She took a job at an insurance company in nearby Astoria. A short time later her parents sold the coastal home and moved back to Portland. Lois stayed in Astoria with her younger sister Anne, who had not yet graduated from high school. After Anne’s graduation they moved to Portland where Lois worked as a bookkeeper for a wood products company.

Lois was 23 years old when she met her soul mate Clifford Gutwig at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland. Cliff lied about his age, telling her he was 25 when he actually was one-and-a-half-years younger than Lois. She learned the truth only when signing their marriage certificate in Carson City, Nevada, on Feb. 7, 1955. “I probably wouldn’t have gone out with him had I known,” she said. They were married for 49 years and 10 months, ended only by Cliff’s death on Dec. 8, 2004.

Lois loved to travel. She and Cliff visited Germany, Italy, England, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, Portugal, France, Spain, Jamaica, Morocco, The Bahamas, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Grand Cayman Islands. They drove across Canada west to east, and over a two-month period in 2000 traveled by automobile through 23 states in the U.S. They have been to all 50 states. They also took their children and grandchildren to family vacations in Maui, Hawaii, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. After Cliff’s death, Lois traveled to Thailand in 2006 with her sister Alice and daughter Judy.

Besides travel and music, Lois loved gardening, walking (she and Cliff would put in 10 miles a day!), being with her family, and watching her kids’ and grandkids’ sporting events. She was an active Little League mom and the wife of a Little League coach. She also loved her dogs Poopsie (1) and successor Poopsie (2).

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, LeRoy and Chloral; brother, Byron Shawcross; sisters Barbara Baker, Alice (Newell) Clay, and Anne Shawcross.

Lois is survived by four children, Margaret Richardson and her spouse Mark of Vancouver, Wash.; Michael Gutwig and his spouse Lori Clark of Troutdale; Judy Knutson and her spouse Darwin of Aloha; and Jonathan Gutwig and his spouse Shari Stratton of Gresham; nine grandchildren, Chad Evans, Emily Evans Navarro; Leslie Gutwig Younger, Megan Gutwig Dilday; Ryan Knutson, Amy Knutson-Cain; Jeremy Gutwig, Jordan Gutwig, and Deiana Gutwig; and nine great-grandchildren, Eloise Navarro; Isla and Maeve Younger; Finnegan and Ronan Dilday; Theodore and Bedford Knutson; and Rory and Tatum Cain.

Interment was February 19, 2025 at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

Rest in peace, Mom. You will be missed more than words can say.