Lois Jean Berry 1935 - 2025

Lois Jean Berry, of Eugene, and formerly of McMinnville, Oregon, died April 4, 2025, of natural causes at the age of 90.

Mom was born at home in Hugo, Oklahoma, to Bessie and Walter Wofford. As a child in the mid-1930s, Lois’ family joined other Dust Bowl refugees traveling from Oklahoma to Southern California. When the car broke down near a town in New Mexico, a police officer told the family they could safely camp on the police station lawn. Mom said she spent part of the night worrying they would be arrested.

In Southern California, the family lived in a tent for months, with Lois attending elementary school while her father, working at the nearby port, spent his off hours building the family’s small home in East Compton. A few years later, they relocated to run a dairy farm in Missouri, where Mom graduated from high school.

The family eventually returned to the Los Angeles area. Lois attended college at USC, pledging with Delta Zeta. She also studied at Long Beach City College, where she met Jim Berry. The two were married in 1959, and were together 49 years, until his death in 2008.

Lois worked in a variety of jobs, including as a receptionist in a medical office and selling real estate after the family moved to Santa Rosa, California. But after they arrived in Eugene in 1976, she began working first for a title company and then for Pacific Northwest Bell, selling rotary and the newer touch-tone phones. When Pacific Northwest Bell became US West, she moved up in the ranks and for years sold Yellow Page ads before supervising the final print layouts for Yellow Page directories in a number of Western States.

Upon retirement, she and Jim traveled the country, visiting all 50 states. They went to Canada, England, Scotland, France, Australia, and New Zealand. After Jim’s death, Lois remained active, traveling and visiting friends and relatives. During the years she and Jim lived in McMinnville, Lois was a SMART reader volunteer and a docent at the Evergreen Aviation Museum. She loved gardening, decorating her home, and shopping at thrift stores.

She is survived by her daughter, Tracy; and son, Steven; her four siblings, Roger, Ken, Jan, and Linda; and her beloved dog, Keely.

At her request, no service is planned. Donations in her memory can be made to the NW Area SMART Reading program (which includes Yamhill County) or the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.