Lois Diane Squires

Our amazing wife, mom, grandma, and great grandma Lois Diane Squires passed away in the early morning hours of October 22nd due to complications from an infection. She was born on June 9th, 1935 in San Diego, CA to Hazel Norr Johns and Arthur Johns. She was very active and involved in sports, piano, and many extracurricular activities. She became an accomplished baton twirler and performed at the collegiate level.
She attended BYU university where she met and married David Alexander Squires on August 5, 1963. They had a bustling home as they raised seven kids together in Orem, Utah ultimately staying in the same home they built for nearly 60 years.
A life long passion for learning defined her life in many ways. She had an entire room dedicated to a number of shoulder-high filing cabinets filled with all kinds of magazine and newspaper articles on seemingly all possible subjects. She would read information from various sources and carefully cut out and file each one by hand. For her kids growing up, she was like the original "internet" in an age when everyone else had to rely on libraries and dated encyclopedias. All a child had to do was tell her what subject they had to cover in a school paper and a few minutes later she would appear with folders of relevant information from multiple angles. She was extremely well read and kept her files up-to-date throughout her entire life.
She taught preschool for many years and she collected an impressive array of toys, games, and books that were particularly useful when her grandkids or other children came to visit. She would excitedly bring out one after another for them to play with, keeping them entertained and engaged for hours on end.
She also prioritized helping her kids develop their talents. She would spend hours teaching piano, reading, baking, and decorating depending on each of her children's personal interests. She also found a way to pay for gymnastics, piano, dancing, and any other hobby or talent in which any of her kids expressed interest. When money was tight with a houseful of young kids, she carefully budgeted throughout the year so the family could take alternating annual trips to California and Montana to spend time with relatives and take trips to Disneyland and other attractions.
She was quite competitive at her favorite board game, Acquire, as well as ping pong. She would spend many hours playing ping pong with her kids in the backyard and she would often win with her patient, defensive style - returning shots and letting the other person ultimately make the mistake. It was always friendly competition, but her kids always knew that any victories against her had to be truly earned!
She had a deep and firm faith and religious conviction. She lived her life fully in accordance with her beliefs and never wavered in her commitment. She held many different church callings and dedicated much time and effort serving others.
She had an inspirational commitment to personal improvement. Life dealt her many challenges, yet she quietly worked hard to become greater than whatever those challenges might be. This was exemplified when in her late 80s she nearly lost her life to a severe illness that left her in a wheelchair and on oxygen. She was determined to get rid of both the wheelchair and the oxygen and after nearly a year of hard work she finally achieved her goal of a full recovery! She never complained about the things she faced but she equally never accepted them; instead she applied herself over time to develop her ability to overcome them.
Lois is survived by her husband, David, and seven children: Alan (Malise) Squires, Russ (Karen) Squires, Craig (Ellen) Squires, Diana (Treaver) Hodson, Denise (John) Mathews, Darren (Erika) Squires, and Linda (Kurt) Olsson as well as 31 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her Mother and Father, her older sister, Barbara Groeger, as well as her grandson, Jeffrey Trewartha, and her granddaughter, Cassandra Squires.
Services: A viewing will be held on Friday November 14th from 6-8 pm at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 E 800 N, Orem, Utah. The funeral will be held on Saturday, November 15th at 11:30 am at the LDS church at 13768 S 6400 W, Herriman, Utah. A viewing will precede the funeral from 10-11 am.
A webcast of the service will be available at www.walkersanderson.com.