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Lois DOWLING Obituary
Jan. 8, 1935- Nov. 14, 2016
Lois was born the same day and year as Elvis Presley; though their paths never crossed, she could certainly shake her hips.
While Lois lost her parents at an early age, her uncle Nelson Rostow and aunt Celia Rostow adopted her. As first (and last?) Socialist candidate for secretary of state for Connecticut and as an early Vista volunteer, Celia was a strong influence on Lois's humanitarian values.
Lois showed an early love of reading and pursued her interest in the study and teaching of literature at Swarthmore College, Yale University, and Indiana University in Bloomington. She already had two young daughters, Naomi and Miriam, when she completed her Ph.D. While she studied medieval literature in earlier years, she became an expert in Children's Literature and a president of the Children's Literature Association as well. She taught for many years at Lehman College in New York and San Diego State University. She retired to Ann Arbor, Michigan with her loving husband of forty years, James Dowling. She and Jim became an integral part of PTD, a local theater company, and they devoted themselves to the troupe's productions.
Lois had many fine friends, whom she welcomed into her and Jim's home. The dinner table was the hub for silly and inspiring conversations. If she and Jim weren't at the table, they were reading on the sofa or exploring the world at home and abroad. Despite Lois's diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer in 2006, she was able to live another ten years in mostly good health and spirits. After Jim died suddenly in 2014, Lois moved to Austin, Texas and Westminster Manor, where she continued to make new friends, read, go to the theater and museums, and complain about the weather. She also got a kick out of her amazing grandsons.
Lois is survived by her daughter Naomi, grandson Ben, and Ben's other mom, Sherri; daughter Miriam, son-in-law Max, and grandson Eli; daughter from another mother, Annie Villalobos and her son Gabriel; sister-in-law Cathy Sanderson and her family; two nephews Dan and Steve and a niece Kathy and their families. Naomi and Miriam are grateful for the kindness given to Lois by her friends, family, and care team.
Lois was witty, persistent, and will be sorely missed. Please honor her memory by contributing to a cause of your choice and/or by reclining on a sofa with good reading in hand and a friendly mammal within reach.
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Memories and Condolences
for Lois DOWLING
Terry Carnes
June 30, 2020
She created a Readers Theater group. We met at their home in Ann Arbor regularly, enjoying a potluck dinner and doing all sorts of out loud reading, preparing for public performances. She allowed me to use my humble scripts for some of the reading. She provided so much fun! How lucky we were to have benefitted from her generosity and spirit and unwavering steadiness and trust. Thanks, Lois. You are and always will be a standout in my life. See you later.
Susan Miller
November 17, 2019
I have been thinking of Lois often of late. Lois used to help me with my fiction-writing by reading and discussing drafts I'd written. Her thoughts were always helpful to me and her manner of communicating about them was calm and respectful, so it was easy to make good use of her ideas. We usually met in downtown Ann Arbor, at Sweetwaters, and I miss seeing her there. But I can see her well, and hear her, as I write this. One just gets used to being without someone, but then a memory will come and a feeling, I miss her. I miss Lois.
Barbara Florio-Graham
February 3, 2018
I just discovered this sad news. I kept in touch with Lois since our high school days, and since my emails to her didn't bounce, I hoped she was still okay after her move to Texas.
She was one of the most brilliant women I've ever known, and an inspiration to all who knew her.
We attended our 50th reunion in Hamden, Connecticut, in 2002, with several other close friends, and I had a great visit with her again in 2009 when she and Jim detoured through Ottawa in order to see me on their trip with Ben to Quebec.
Carol Sicherman
January 2, 2017
Aeons ago, Lois and I were office mates at Lehman College and instant good friends. It was only right that I too had daughters named Miriam and Noemi. She and Jim hosted annual holiday parties for the whole department that were the jolliest of my life. We kept in touch, and I enjoyed visiting her and Jim (and his muffins) in San Diego. I treasured her capacity for joy, for subtlety, and for frankness. Just now, I remembered her Aunt Celia's favorable opinion of my holiday goose and phoned to catch up about Lois's doings and about our Miriams and Naomis--but she is gone. Not gone, though: she made an indelible impression on so many people. All my love and deepest sympathy go to Naomi, Miriam, and the grandchildren she cherished so much.
Peter Svirsky
December 1, 2016
Lois was a wonderful friend. And it wasn't until we were classmates at Swarthmore that we found we were distant cousins. Lois opened the way for a detailed investigation of our common ancestry, for which I am immensely grateful. Above all, I miss her warmth and brilliance as an individual.
Rick et al.
November 22, 2016
Lois has joined her Jim, and they will both live on in the hearts of their family and their friends, including their PTD friends. It has been a privilege to know them. We miss you, Lois.
Susan Miller
November 22, 2016
dearest Lois, I miss her warmth, her quiet humor, her wonderful depth of caring for people...she was a wonderful true friend
November 21, 2016
Although I have been silent through all of this, Lois has been in my heart every second, and she always will be. Mary PTD
Alan Greenberg
November 21, 2016
Miss her already, lovely woman.
November 20, 2016
Our sincerest condolences from the Arranging It All team. Lois was a wonderful woman and glad that we could help with her transition to Austin.
Sincerey, Barry and the AIA team
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