Obituary of Lois May Stackhouse

Lois May (Griggs) Stackhouse, born May 14, 1927, in Ashtabula, Ohio, died Wednesday, January 3, 2018 at Providence Diversicare in New Albany with her sons at her side. She was 90.

She was a woman of great faith, remarkable optimism and openness, a loving wife and mother and friend. She brought a warm, gentle smile to almost every occasion, be it celebration or setback.

Her parents were Fred March Griggs and Wilda (Brooks) Griggs. Her mother died when she was 6. Her father later remarried, to Lena May Rhoads. Lois graduated from Madison (Ohio) Memorial High School and, in 1947, married Owen Homer Stackhouse, whom she met while working at an ice rink near Madison. They had two sons before Owen’s work brought them to the southern Indiana area, eventually settling by 1960 in Clarksville, where she lived until entering the Providence facility.

Marriage and motherhood temporarily sidelined her as a wage-earner, but she returned to the workforce in 1969 at the powder plant in Charlestown, and went on to work at area businesses including The King’s Table restaurant, Value City, The Fair Store, Kmart, One-Hour Martinizing and Reeder’s Cleaners, where she – a customer favorite – worked until age 82. She also worked for several years as a truck driver, traveling across the country in an 18-wheeler, sharing driving duties with her husband as they and their dog roamed the eastern United States.

She made lasting friendships everywhere she lived and worked, every place she went.

She enjoyed her family and was a diligent supporter of her sons’ activities, from Halloween costumes to stints at the various concession stands along the way. She enjoyed games and puzzles, books and dogs and children in general. She worked hard to help keep us all together, all functioning and fed and ready for the next challenge. She faced her own challenges – the loss of her mother, the loss of her husband and several bouts of cancer – with persistent faith and optimism that it would all work out. 

She was a member of Harrison Avenue United Methodist Church in Clarksville for decades. When services at that facility ended during her nursing home stay, she was “adopted” by the congregation at Ohio Falls United Methodist Church in Clarksville. She also attended services offered at the Diversicare facility by Christ’s Community Church of the Nazarene in New Albany.

She is survived by her sons and their spouses, Bob and Barbara Stackhouse, and Ben Stackhouse and Melanie Wilding; four grandsons and their spouses, Ryan and Kelli Stackhouse, Kyle and Erin Stackhouse, Eric Stackhouse and Sara Richmer, and Robin Stackhouse; 10 great-grandchildren, Kendall, Owen, Haley, Ella, Byron, Lorraine, Daphne, Ava, Clu and Rhiannon; and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband (1998), brothers Fred and Robert Griggs, sister Wilda Wyant, stepbrother Ernest Rhoads and stepsister Geraldine Rhoads.

Visitation will be held Monday, Jan. 8, at Scott Funeral Home, 2515 Veterans Parkway, Jeffersonville, from 2 to 6 p.m., followed by a memorial service at 6 p.m. in the facility’s chapel.

The family wishes to thank the caregivers at Providence, who helped Lois restore a sense of independence, pride and purpose in her later years. Thanks, too, to the Medicare and Medicaid programs and to the taxpayers who support them. Without you, her quality of life in later years would have been considerably diminished.

Donations in Lois’ memory can be made to Providence Diversicare, 4915 Charlestown Road, New Albany, IN 47150, Ohio Falls United Methodist Church, 917 S. Virginia Ave., Clarksville, IN 47129, or Christ’s Community Church of the Nazarene, 4920 Charlestown Road, New Albany, IN 47150.