Lois Lee Mellott

Lois Lee Mellott, 92, of Warfordsburg, beloved mother and grandmother, passed away December 23, 2024, at Fulton County Medical Center Long-term Care, where she had resided for the last two years.

Born on November 14, 1932, she was the eldest of Kenneth E. and Stella V. (Barnhart) Hendershot's four children and their only daughter.

Lois grew up on her parents' dairy farm in Pigeon Cove, Bethel Township, helping with farm chores and the care of her three younger brothers. It was there that she learned the importance of hard work, to appreciate the land and that there was no better place to raise a family.

Following her graduation from Warfordsburg High School in 1950, she completed the bookkeeping program at Hagerstown Business School and then worked for a time as a bookkeeper at Hagerstown Lumber Co. and Rauth Motors in Hancock.

Lois married the late Delmar A. Mellott on December 24, 1951. Never ones to roam too far or long from home, they made their permanent home on a hilltop farm overlooking Pigeon Cove, just down the road from her parents.

In July 1995, a farming accident took Delmar's life on his 65th birthday.

Lois lived a life filled with gratitude, humility and a generosity of spirit. For her, there was no place like home, nothing more important than family and nothing more joyful than the simple pleasures of life: a beautiful sunset, birdsong, a walk in nature, the satisfaction of completing a task. Although she would have said otherwise, she was an accomplished gardener, baker, cook, needlewoman and knitter. She learned the value of a dollar early in life and often counseled her children and grandchildren "waste not, want not."

A woman of unfaltering Christian faith, Lois was a lifelong member of Warfordsburg Presbyterian Church and an active participant in its women's group and also taught Sunday School. She helped with the Released Time Bible Program at Southern Fulton School District and, for many years, was treasurer of the Warfordsburg Presbyterian Church and the Cemetery Association.

She was also a Bethel Township auditor and poll worker, and she assisted with her husband's business selling farm products for Wilken’s Agway.

Lois felt that her sons were her most valued and loved possessions. She considered them and their families her life's purpose. They will all sorely miss her.

She is survived by her two sons : Lex A. and wife Lindsay (Riggs), Needmore, and Tracy J. and wife Dena (Ritz), Warfordsburg; two grandsons: Dallas A. and wife Ann (Protzman) Mellott, East Norriton, Pa., and Robert M. Mellott, New Orleans, La.; two granddaughters: Lindsey H. and husband Terry Bard, Warfordsburg, Pa., and Kaylie J. and husband Robert Oakman, Warfordsburg, Pa., six great-grandchildren: Myles, Jordan and Max Bard and Owen, Parker and Paisley Oakman; nieces and nephews; and two sisters-in-law.

Her brothers Paul A., Daryl L. and Earl J. Hendershot preceded her in death, in addition to her husband, parents, two sisters-in-law and a brother-in-law. Donations in memory of Lois can be made to Warfordsburg Cemetery Association, C/O Virginia Akers, 983 High Germany Rd., Warfordsburg, PA 17267 or to a disaster fund of the donor's choice.

A funeral service will be held at a later date.

Lois's final care has been entrusted to Grove-Rogowski Funeral Home, P.A., Hancock, Md.