Lois Jean Stephens Meck

LOIS JEAN STEPHENS MECK

Fairfield

Lois Jean Stephens Meck, formerly of 803 W. Kirkwood Ave., Fairfield, Iowa, died on Thursday, April 9, 2020, in Houston, Texas. She called Fairfield home for 36 years until October 2018, when she moved to Texas and took up residence at Ella Springs Assisted Living.

Lois was born May 19, 1935, in Richland, Iowa, the only child of George and Laura Spanier Stephens, and granddaughter of Milo and Sylvia Fulton Stephens, and Pete and Susannah Hammen Spanier. She married Harold Wilbur Meck on Dec. 19, 1953, at Bloomfield, Iowa. He died in 1990.

Lois grew up in Richland, Wash., and Ollie, Iowa. She graduated from Ollie High School in 1953, where she played varsity basketball all four years and broke her nose three (3) times! She worked her entire life, starting at her parent's restaurant in Ollie and then at Universal Producing Co. in Fairfield in 1953. She and Harold moved to Davenport in 1958, residing there for 24 years. She moved back to Fairfield in 1982.

Lois possessed a strong, organized work ethic. She cleaned houses and took in ironings, maintaining lasting relationships with the same families for many years. She loved genealogy research, her beloved cat Lily, word seek puzzles, and her "people" who came in and out of her backdoor for the past 35 years.

Survivors include daughters, Deborah (Gary) Wallace of Spring, Texas, and Christie (David) Hall of Roanoke, Va.; seven grandchildren, Rebecca Meck Lucas, Richard Lee Meck Jr., Nicole Yocum, Donald Yocum, Amber Mule, Ash Wallace and Whitney Wallace; six great-grandchildren, Bradlee Lucas, Brooke Lucas, Eric and Kaleb Meck, Brandon Yocum and Emma Wallace; three great-great grandchildren; and former daughter-in-law, Dena Rarick. She also is survived by longtime family friend Rosie Witherspoon.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents; a son, Richard Lee Meck, in 2007; and longtime companion, Melvin (Bill) Meck.

Suggested memorial contributions: Keokuk County Historical Society, P.O. Box 123, Sigourney, IA 52591-0123; or the Fairfield Library. Her cremains will be interred to Ollie (South) Cemetery, Ollie, Iowa, at a later date.