Jacqueline T. Lois

Jaqueline Thompson Lois, cherished wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, passed away peacefully on December 4, 2025 after a 13-year struggle with Alzheimer's Disease. She was 84.
Jackie was born on June 18, 1941 to the late Evelyn and Villette Thompson. The second of four daughters, Jackie grew up in Peekskill, NY and attended St. Lawrence University to study education. After college, she provisionally taught in the Peekskill school system while she studied for her Master's degree in elementary education. She married her beloved husband, Joe, in 1964. She stayed at home for a decade to raise their two children, Jennifer and Sara, and returned to work in 1977, eventually earning her second Master's degree in Special Education from Fordham University, when the education field was newly understanding learning disabilities and schools were adjusting their practices. Jackie was a perfect person to take this on, as her boundless energy, love of children, and can-do approach to everything helped her make a difference in hundreds of students' lives. Not only did she do so in the classroom, but she also served as the special education expert on various assessment committees, weighing in on best practices in numerous schools. She retired in 2001 after 24 years of teaching special education and fourth grade in the Hendrick Hudson School District.
In every area of her life, Jackie was artistic, though she didn't always see it that way; she assumed it was easy to make a village of gingerbread houses from scratch, sew clothes and costumes from a pattern (or not), and sketch cartoon animals for kids to color. She took up creative pursuits, like stained-glass art (a sideline hobby in her working years) and black-and-white photography, a serious endeavor in her retirement years, during which she spent hours in the darkroom Joe built for her in their home. She developed a deep affinity for the Hudson River School of painting when she and Joe designed and built their dream home overlooking the Hudson in 1986-and true to form, she decorated every inch of it with an expert artistic eye. Jackie was also an avid epicurean, who loved cooking a gourmet meal (half by recipe, half by intuition) for no particular occasion. Her students especially loved the full Thanksgiving spread she made for them every year. She woke up early to put in the turkey, went to work, cooked all the side dishes with her students, ran home at lunch to bring in the turkey, and invited the principal and superintendent to the afternoon feast with her class. She gifted so much of her creative energy to deepening the bonds with the important people in her life.
Jackie's adventurous spirit led her to travel to Colorado and Europe with Joe (when he was willing) and her group of similarly adventurous teacher friends (when he wasn't). She loved her winter trips to Colorado to ski with the family, and her summer trips with Joe and friends, where she hiked more than one 14,000-foot mountain, always producing a mini charcuterie board for the group at the summit. She loved tennis and tried to love golf, but mostly she played to spend five hours talking with friends.
Jackie was a voracious reader who had a gift for recommending new books before they became best-sellers. She adored snuggling with her pugs, Bonsai and later Kadee, who were both the lucky beneficiaries of Jackie's reading habits. She was also devoted to her three sisters, Nancy, Marilyn, and Jane, and the four of them maintained close relationships throughout her life. They shopped, traveled, and celebrated together, and stood by each other's side through the ups and downs of shared and intersecting lives. More than anything, she loved being a grandmother. Playing on the floor with babies, teaching toddlers how to bake, and planning hundreds of fun experiences to create lasting memories. She knew which fork to use, did not abide gum chewing, and wore slacks to the mall.
Jackie is preceded in death by her parents, Villette and Evelyn Thompson, and her brothers-in-law, Don Horton and Don Roe. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Joe; her daughter Jennifer and son-in law Tim; her daughter Sara and her son-in-law Gary; her grandchildren Sophie, Jacob, Calvin, and Marti; and her sisters Nancy Horton, Marilyn Roe, and Jane Lemak (Bill). She is also survived by many other loving family members and friends.
Visitation (10am-12pm) and a service (12pm-1pm) will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2025, at Curry & Giordano Funeral Home, located at 313 North James Street in Peekskill, NY. A luncheon reception is scheduled immediately after the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association (www.alz.org)