Lois Ann M. Salazar

02/17/1934 - 02/07/2025

Lois Ann Mortashed Salazar died February 7, 2025 in Reston, Virginia. She was born on February 17, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the only child of Hugh and Ruth Mortashed. She grew up in Harrison and Greenhills, Ohio, surrounded by her grandparents and many loving aunts and uncles. In 1948 her family moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Lois graduated from Elizabeth City High School in 1952. She took art classes and excelled in fashion drawing.
Lois attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia from 1952 to 1956, earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She continued art classes and studied figure, landscape, and modern art. Lois was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority, and she was also active in the Jamestown Festival Park project (Jamestown Settlement Museum).
In 1957, Lois traveled on her own to Europe to learn firsthand about the art and architecture of Italy, France, and England. She then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, earning her Master of Fine Arts degree in Art History. In the summer of 1960, Lois traveled on her own to Mexico City. Upon her return home, she began working at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In 1961 she taught English at Ballou High School in Washington, DC.
While attending Catholic University, Lois met Theodore (Ted) Salazar in art class, beginning a lifetime of sharing their love for each other, family, art, teaching, and travel. Lois and Ted were married on June 24, 1961, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia and they had two children, Teddy and Maria.
After moving to Reston, Virginia in 1970, Lois, alongside Ted, was active in the nascent art community, helping to found the Reston Art Guild and becoming an early member of the Greater Reston Art Center (GRACE). Lois became a proficient and successful weaver and was commissioned to create tapestries for St Thomas á Becket Catholic Church in Reston. She joined the Waterford Weavers Guild in 1973 and remained an active member and officer for four decades. Lois was a docent at the Renwick Gallery Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; taught a semester of art history at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC; and served with Ted as art counselors at Camp Winnebago in Fayette, Maine. There she taught the campers how to weave on a historic timber frame loom that she discovered behind an old barn. Lois also spun and dyed yarn, knitted apparel and creatures, and felted wool which she showcased at the Workhouse Art Center in Lorton, Virginia. Lois studied the art of icons in Greece and retablos in Santa Fe, New Mexico and painted her own series of retablos using wood plaques created by Ted.
Lois was an avid gardener. She loved vacations at the beach with friends and family, celebrating birthdays and holidays, and she took every opportunity to gather people and have fun – sharing her warmth, genuine interest in others, and her terrific sense of humor.
Lois is preceded in death by her husband and her parents. She is survived by her children, Maria and Teddy (Sarah Meyer), and grandchildren, Izzy and Theo.
Burial services for Ted and Lois Salazar will be held at Arlington National Cemetery on November 7 at 1 p.m.