Lois Herrington Butterfield

Lois Herrington Butterfield Lois Herrington of Boise married Samuel Butterfield of Moscow, Idaho, on Feb. 10, 1948. Lois requested that her obituary begin with that statement. It reflects her belief that their 60 years of marriage were adventuresome, fruitful and happy. Sam agrees with Lois. He misses her terribly. Lois was born in Boise to Curtis and Alice (Hill) Herrington on Oct. 8, 1925. She attended public schools in Boise, Caldwell and Portland, graduating from Boise High School in 1943. She attended the University of Oregon and transferred to the University of Idaho in 1946. Art and architecture were her special interests. She was a member of Alpha Phi sorority. Lois lived with Sam and their three children (Charles, Stephen and Susan) in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and in Africa (Tanzania and Sudan). Later she and Sam lived in Nepal and Botswana. Since 1981 she considered Moscow her home. Her years abroad were mostly with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). When in foreign countries she was a wonderful representative of America. She also relished crossing deep crevasses on rope bridges, climbing to 17,000 feet on Nepal's Mt. Everest trail and viewing elephants, giraffes, lions and myriad other wild game in Africa. Lois enjoyed gardening. Her home-canned fruit was hard to beat. Her taste in clothing, furnishings and other material things was impeccable. In social gatherings she strove to make sure that everybody felt welcome and included. She valued goodness in friends and in herself. Her family was of paramount importance to her. Lois especially enjoyed membership in Pleiades, PEO, the Monday Book Club and the monthly Campus Discussion Group. The Washington Idaho Symphony Association presented Lois with its 1998 President's Award for her years of dedicated volunteer service as a member of the association's Palouse League. Lois is survived by Sam at their home in Moscow, by her children and their spouses and children (Charles, Hester, Elizabeth and Emily Butterfield of Highland, Md.; Stephen, JoLinda, Bennett, Winston and Lowell Butterfield of Ellicott City, Md.; and Susan Butterfield Waite, Chad, Alexis, C.P. and Stephen of Kirkland, Wash.). She is also survived by her sisters Helen Missildine of Moscow, Margaret Herrington of Portland, Ore., Mary Zuzel of Pendleton, Ore., step-mother Ruth Herrington of Portland, nieces and nephews Pamela Elliott, Michael Elliott, Janet Bayly, Paul Butterfield, Peter Butterfield, John Butterfield, Julie Butterfield and Ann Butterfield plus their spouses and children. Cremation has taken place. A memorial celebration of Lois Herrington Butterfield's rich life will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 8 in the Unitarian-Universalist Church of the Palouse in Moscow.