Lois J. Baker

Lois Jane Baker passed away on June 2, 2022, at age 97. Her final few years were marred by worsening dementia and isolation from the pandemic, yet she lived a life full of accomplishments. Lois was born on March 7, 1925, in Cassopolis, Michigan, to Russell W. and Frances E. (Tharp) Witwer. She grew up in South Bend, Indiana, where she was valedictorian of the Class of 1943 at Washington-Clay High School. Because her father did not allow his daughters to go to college, Lois began working at Studebaker after high school. She subsequently moved to Chicago in 1947 to work at the American School, a correspondence school adjacent to the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park, where she compiled a “Study Guide for Gregg Shorthand” published in 1951. She lived at the Eleanor Club, where she made lifelong friends of many other women residing there, and met Roy R. Baker, Jr. They married in 1952 and moved to Park Forest, Illinois. She was active in the Women’s Circle of Grace United Protestant Church, and PTA once both daughters were in school. She began working part time as a secretary for B’nai B’rith/Beth Israel synagogue in 1967. After the family moved to Glen Ellyn in 1969, Lois was widowed in 1971 and left to raise her daughters, then age 15 and 11. She soon began part-time work with Swift & Co, then began working full time as an executive secretary. Lois was a superb editor and typist, though she disliked filing! By the late 1970s, she began commuting downtown to work in the Human Resources department of HartMarx, retiring in 1991. She was active in the St. Thomas Methodist Church congregation until she reached her early 90s. She was a strong woman who persevered at a time when the deck was stacked against single mothers. Lois was an avid sewer and reader, and a crossword puzzle and Jeopardy enthusiast. She also enjoyed outings to the Morton Arboretum, where she was a long-time member. She is survived by her daughters, Lisa B. Elsen (Jim) and Brenda J. Baker, whose ambitions she always supported. She adored her three granddaughters, Colleen Volz (Colin), Amy Faivor (Taylor), and Megan Elsen (Dillon Weaver), and enjoyed visits from her first great-granddaughter, Maeve Corrinne Volz. Sadly, the COVID pandemic precluded much interaction with great-grandson, James Archer Volz, and great-granddaughter Clara Rose Faivor.