Lois G. Melvoin

Lois Melvoin, 92, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, philanthropist, and friend, died at home surrounded by her immediate family on February 9 in Glenview, Illinois. The cause was gall bladder cancer.

Lois-"Loie" to friends, "Nonnie" to family - was born at Evanston Hospital on May 15, 1930, and raised in Glencoe, where she attended South School, Central School, and New Trier High School, graduating in 1947.

She attended Mount Holyoke College for two years, then Northwestern for a year before marrying high school sweetheart Hugo Jay Melvoin in 1950 and moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts while Hugo attended Harvard Law School. They returned to Illinois to raise three children in Highland Park: Richard, Jeffrey, and Susan, who died in 2016; Hugo died in 2013.

After her children left home, Loie worked at Highland Park High School, assisting a program for students with special needs. After twelve years, she went back to college, earning her B.A. at Northeastern Illinois University at the age of 53.

She then became a case manager at the North Shore Senior Center, where she and Hugo created a fund to help clients pay for medications, eyeglasses, and other miscellaneous expenses. "I saw firsthand the hardships many people experienced as they aged," Lois told an interviewer, "and we felt providing financial assistance would make a tangible impact on their daily lives." In 2018, the North Shore Senior Center presented her with its Outstanding Philanthropist Award.

Service-helping others-was a central tenet of her life. Her generosity, empathy, and cheerful spirit were a blessing to all she touched. She leaves two sons, their wives, five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and innumerable friends, who will miss her deeply and treasure her always.

A memorial service will be held Monday, February 13, 11 am Central Time, at North Shore Congregation Israel, 1185 Sheridan Road, Glencoe, Illinois, and may be live-streamed at https://venue.streamspot.com/event/MzY5Mjg3Mg==

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to North Shore Senior Center www.nssc.org or call 847-784-6020.