Lois M. Severance

Lois M. Severance passed away Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017, a week shy of her 89th birthday, after a long battle with cancer. Born in 1928 in Windham, Vermont, to Leonard and Ruth Call Stowell, she went to school in Chester and trained as a nurse at Gifford Memorial hospital. She began her nursing career in Washington, D.C. but returned to Vermont where she married Dean Severance. Lois and Dean lived for a few years in Lubbock, Texas, but her path led her back to New England, where she continued her nursing career at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin and, subsequently, in Keene, New Hampshire.

Lois retired in Springfield, Vermont, where she embraced a new role as an RSVP volunteer — driving seniors and others to appointments, reading to the blind, and helping Meals on Wheels. Her most treasured volunteer role was as a leader of the Bone Builders Exercise Program. She was a fierce promoter of exercise, and walked nearly every day until only a few weeks before her death.

After moved to the Marion Phillips Housing complex in Claremont in 2014, Lois became an active member of the Tenant’s Association. She greatly enjoyed her time there — especially the opportunity to grow bumper crops of tomatoes and swap gardening tips with the other gardeners, right up through this past summer.

Lois lived her life with pizazz — in addition to being a loving mother and compassionate nurse, she was a talented painter, a terrific cook and baker, and a passionate advocate for women’s rights and other social issues. She spoke her mind and wrote letters to the editor, and loved travel, opera, and a good bargain. With her deep love of nature, she saw us all as children of Mother Earth.

She is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Nancy and Stephen Roylance, of New York City; a son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Ann Severance of Barre, Vermont; and five siblings: Mildred Horn, Joyce Mattson, Beverly Parker, Norman Stowell, Virginia Stowell, and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by Dean Severance, and sisters Marilyn Schuster, Sharon Geary, Phyllis Amsden, Helen Farrar and Doris Raitenan.

A celebration of Lois’s life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 21 Fairground Road in Springfield, Vermont. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to organizations that support nature, green space, and the environment.

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