Lois Elizabeth Clarke

Lois Elizabeth Clarke, age 89, of Hanover, New Hampshire, passed away peacefully from natural causes.
Lois was born and raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Great Britain, the third child of James and Eunice (Hardy) Allardyce. Lois grew up in England in the aftermath of WWII. She had plans to immigrate to Canada with her fiancé. However, he had arrived 6 months earlier and met another woman, then broke up with Lois in a letter! But Lois, whose mother was from British Columbia, Canada, bravely decided to continue with her plan to immigrate to Canada on her own, meeting up with her mother's relatives at the ship. Shortly after, she got a job in Montréal and met her beloved husband, Malcolm. They went on to have three children. Sadly, only one of them is still alive – daughter Nancy.
Malcolm was employed for a time at Canadair. Then, following a year of job training, back in England, to learn about semiconductors, the young family decided to emigrate to America for a fresh start. They settled in Tewksbury, MA, where Malcolm secured a job at Sylvania. After a few years, the Clarkes moved to Attleboro, MA, where the children received their formative education. Malcolm was pirated by Ciba-Geigy, a multi-facetted Swiss chemical corporation. Later, once the children completed high school and moved on to finish their education at UMass Amherst, the couple moved first to upstate New York and then to beautiful western Pennsylvania, where Malcolm worked for 25 years at Drakenfeld, a division of Ciba-Geigy. They made many long-lasting friendships there. Over the years, Lois worked several part-time jobs as office manager and bookkeeper to help pay for the children's college education. Just before Malcolm and Lois retired, Malcolm was asked to install a computer system in Melbourne, Australia. They spent an exciting 3 months there and brought home wonderful memories.
One of their greatest achievements was Malcolm's homebuilt airplane, a Burt Rutan Long-EZ, which took years to complete in Attleboro and survived several moves. They thoroughly enjoyed "flying-in" and lunching at many small airports, meeting other aviation couples and swapping flying stories.
Alas, Malcolm developed Alzheimer's which soon became too much for Lois to manage alone. In 2008, they moved to Harvest Hill, an independent/assisted living facility, in Lebanon, NH to be close to Nancy and her family. Malcolm lived only 1 year longer – a blessing really for Lois since the tragic disease robs one of their life's achievements and memories. Lois chose to remain at Harvest Hill where she was well cared for, well fed, busy with activities and made many new friends. For 10 years, Lois was the interviewer for the community's resident-generated newsletter. However, during these last 2 years Lois began to experience balance issues and fell several times resulting in broken bones. The last straw was when beloved son, Kyle, succumbed to his 14-year battle with Melanoma. Lois developed a twisted bowel requiring major surgery which she never fully recovered from. She lost the will to live and dementia set in. She spent the last two months in hospice on the memory care floor at Wheelock Terrace in Hanover, NH, where she received exemplary, loving care. Dying in her sleep, Lois is now finally at peace.
Lois is predeceased by her husband, Malcolm; sons, Kyle and Campbell; parents; and siblings, Margaret and Bill. She is survived by her daughter, Nancy Stetson, and her husband Bruce Stetson, of New London, NH; granddaughter, Mary Colburn and her husband Ben Colburn and their children, Abby and Aaron, of Deerfield, NH; grandson, Bill Stetson and his wife Jess Stetson and their children, Emily and Charlie, of East Bridgewater, MA.
There will be a celebration of life announced at a later date. Lois would appreciate any donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, alz.org, or the Aim at Melanoma Foundation, aimatmelanoma.org.
To leave a message of remembrance or condolence, please visit the online guestbook at www.rickerfuneralhome.com.