Obituary for Lois W. Laughlin

Lois W. Laughlin, 83, of Iowa City, died at home on Saturday, November 1, 2008 from brain cancer. A memorial service will be held at 11am on November 15, Saturday, at the Scattergood School Meeting House. Lois Lucile Wood Laughlin, activist, librarian, and volunteer, was born in 1925 in Berkeley, California, the daughter of Anna Lucile Kersey and Herbert Ross Wood. She married Donald Eugene Laughlin in 1945. After earning a BA in history and education and a teaching certificate in 1946 from Whittier College in Whittier, California, Lois and Don moved to West Branch, Iowa where for many years, Lois taught English, drama, typing, physical education, folk dancing and served as the school librarian at Scattergood Friends School. From 1968 to 1974, she worked as high school librarian in Tipton, Iowa. Later, she worked at the Registration Center at the University of Iowa for 10 years. In 1970, Lois earned a Master of Arts degree in library science from the University of Iowa. During these years, the couple raised their six children, David, Janet, Martha, Ruth, Naomi, and Roger. Birth-right Quakers, Lois and Don joined the West Branch Quaker Meeting where Lois served for a time as the meeting clerk. As a Quaker activist committed to world peace and justice, Lois spent her life involved in the Friends Committee on National Legislation and addressing social justice issues. When she was 60, Lois traveled to Nicaragua as part of a delegation from the Witness for Peace organization, a group opposing U.S. support of the contras in Central America. The delegation met with representatives of the National Assembly and industry, agricultural, and religious leaders, as well as members of the opposition party. Lois was active in opposing the Iowa death penalty, and in 1993 and 1997, testified before the Iowa State Senate. In addition, she wrote many editorials stating her opposition to state sanctioned killing and urging diplomatic means of settling disagreements between nations. Lois loved language and the written word. For two years, she worked as chair of the Iowa group publishing "Friendly Woman." Until just a few weeks before her death, Lois enjoyed a literature class that examined many of the great classics. An informal scholar in her own right, she read widely and thought deeply about a number of topics that embodied living, being, and dying. A prolific, but unpublished writer, Lois leaves behind thousands of pages of letters, poems, essays, stories, and journals, many of which she donated to the Iowa Women''s Archives at the University of Iowa. One of her poems, entitled, October Morning, was a 1998 runner up in the National Poetry Month contest sponsored by the Davenport Public Library. She served terms as both president and treasurer of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Tipton branch. Lois served on the Scattergood Friends School Committee (Board) member, the Iowa City Peer Counseling program, and on the Resident Advocate Committee for Cookson Retirement Home in West Branch. Lois was preceded in death by two daughters, Janet Cook and Ruth Laughlin. She leaves behind her husband, Don Laughlin; daughter, Naomi Laughlin-Richard and her husband Scott; daughter Martha Laughlin and her partner, Kate Warner; David Laughlin and his wife Brenda and their two daughters, Heidi Lehigh and Tanya Lara; son Roger Laughlin and his wife, Connie and their three children, Erin, Katie, and Tyler; and grandson, Darren Cook, son of Janet Cook and her husband, Don as well as seven great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Memorial gifts can be sent to the Scattergood Friends School Foundation (1-888-SFS-INFO or 1-888-737-4636) and directed to the Ruth Laughlin/Janet Cook Scholarship Fund. Thoughts, memories, and condolences may be left for the Laughlin family by clicking on "Sign Guestbook" below.