(Letta) Lois Rasmus

(LETTA) LOIS RASMUS

Manchester

(Letta) Lois Rasmus, 90, of Cedar Rapids, formerly of Manchester, arrived at her Heavenly Home on Tuesday, May 23, 2017. A funeral service for Lois will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 4, at Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories. Visitation will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 3, at Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home and also one hour prior to service. Burial: Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery.

Lois was born Jan. 3, 1927, the daughter of Rutherford "Burm" and Minnie "Shuggie" (Rabe) Hayes, in Palo, Iowa. Lois grew up on the family farm in rural Palo. She graduated from Palo schools and so enjoyed attending the yearly reunions. Following graduation from Coe College, she taught both home economics and biology, first in Crawfordsville and then in Victor. While in Victor, Lois met Russell Rasmus. They were married Aug. 8, 1954. Russell and Lois spent time in Minneapolis, Pella and Cedar Falls, and Manhattan, Kan., while Russ completed his master's degree. They made Manchester their permanent home until 2008, when they laughed that they were following the other snowbirds and moving south, but they made it only as far south as Cedar Rapids to the neighborhood of their daughter and family. They made many lifelong friends at each location, but home always was Manchester.

Lois did occasional substitute teaching in Manchester and worked for a time at Dr. Atteberry's optometry office, but her time was mostly spent with family, friends and many volunteer activities. She was known as a great cook and spent many hours not only in her own kitchen but in the kitchen at the United Methodist Church serving at weddings, funerals and various church gatherings alongside many lovely friends through the years. Lois served in many roles at her church, including various committees, UMW and circle offices, Sunday school teacher and superintendent, VBS coordinator and, because of her love of sewing, was the founder of the Calico Cut Ups sewing group.

Lois volunteered for many years with Little Cloud Girl Scout Council. She led troops at every age level, was neighborhood chairwoman, organized many summer day camps and was a member and president of the Little Cloud Council board of directors.

Another of Lois' beloved activities was being a member of Pythian Sisters Lodge. She participated by holding offices in the Manchester Lodge and also held state offices including Grand Chief of the Iowa Lodge.

Lois also was a member of Manchester American Legion Auxillary, was a former member of the Northeast Iowa Regional Library board, a member of Phi Delphian, and was a member of many coffee groups and card clubs. We are sure we have missed something. Lois always was busy!

Despite all of Lois' activities, she was first and foremost all about her relationships with God, family and friends. Her greatest lifelong gifts to her loved ones were her lessons in faith in God, love, generosity, honesty, togetherness, integrity and compassion that she taught through not only words but her actions.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Russell; brother, Curtis Hayes; sister and brother-in-law, Janice and Richard Dauenbaugh; brother-in-law, Melvin "Pete" Ebersole; brother-in-law and wife, J. Wendell and Violet Rasmus; sister-in-law. Winnie Rasmus; and nephew, John Rasmus.

Lois is survived by her daughter, Judy, and husband, Douglas Drees Sr. (Lois' "favorite son-in-law"), and their children, Benjamin (and wife, Hilary), Alexander (girlfriend Torrie), Jessica (fiance Alex), and Jillian Drees; sister, Monita Ebersole; and many nieces and nephews. Lois also was blessed with many "bonus" family members including those by her side during her recent challenges, her grandkids, Tony, Dalton and Sydney; and great-granddaughter, Clara, who always could make gramma smile. Also missing their gramma are Lois' grand fur-babies: Chunky, Pickles, Ella and Scribbles.

Memorials may be directed to the family for a memorial fund in Russ and Lois's name.

Online condolences may be directed to the family at www.cedarmemorial.com under Obituaries.