Lois Carrie Mae Johnson Myoda, of Wilmington, DE, passed away peacefully on November 3, 2021 at the age of 88.
Lois was born in Wolbach, NE, a village of 300 people, to Herman Johnson and Mae Carrie Mathiesen. She was the granddaughter of Leander and Clara Johnson and Martinus Mathiesen and Carrie Madsen. Lois is pre-deceased by her brother, Harold. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Dr. Toshio Timothy Myoda; two sons, Samuel Peter (Pamela Bakken) and Paul Timothy (Mary Alice Mills); and three grandchildren, Sabrina, Marlowe, and Emerson.
Always in possession of curiosity, kindness, and courage, Lois left Wolbach after high school to attend college first at Doane University (Crete, NE) and then at Columbia University (NY, NY). She took a job as an X-ray technician at Englewood Hospital in NJ for a time before moving to San Francisco, CA, and then Cleveland, OH. In Cleveland she worked at Western Reserve University as a laboratory technician for microbial genetics, and it was there that she completed her studies and met her husband, Tim, a Japanese microbiologist and professor (a marriage that at the time was illegal in 15 States due to anti-miscegenation laws, all of which were overturned in 1967). Together they moved to Tokyo, Japan for two years, where they had their first son, Sam, before returning to the United States and ultimately settling in Wilmington, DE, her primary residence of 57 years.
Lois worked as a medical transcriptionist at Papastavros Associates Medical Imaging and was the penultimate editor and transcriptionist for all of her families’ various writing assignments (we miss your help here, mom!). She was active as a volunteer in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Carrcroft Elementary School Swap-Shop, PTA, the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, and the Great Books Foundation. She was a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and an ESL tutor through the University of DE.
Lois loved the Japanese language, culture, and Shinto deities, travelling the world, tending the moss in her rock garden (with moss varieties smuggled in from said travels), stargazing, birdwatching, piano playing, experiencing art in-person, reading and discussing literature, history and political philosophy, and in her retirement could have been the poster retiree at the Osher Academy for Lifelong Learning at the University of DE in Wilmington. She left every space she entered better than she found it, and her life will serve as an enduring model for her granddaughters of how to live authentically, with a brave heart and open mind.
A private memorial will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Women for Women International (https://www.womenforwomen.org/how-to-give.)
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