Lois Elaine Reitz
Lois Elaine Reitz
Dec. 16, 1930 – Oct. 22, 2015
The sun broke through the clouds as the angels lifted the beautiful soul of Lois Elaine Reitz to Heaven on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.
Nine days before Christmas 1930 (Dec. 16, 1930), Lois was born on the family farm in Liberty, Kansas, to Lester Robert Hoobler and Fern Marie Beair Hoobler.
A celebration for Lois Reitz will be held at The Church at Horseshoe Bay on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, at 10:30 a.m. and the theme is “Sunshine” so all those attending are encouraged to wear yellow.
Lois was the 1948 Senior Queen of Labette County Community High School in Altamont, Kansas – the “largest little town in Kansas.”
She fell in love on a blind date with an Army guy that had just returned home from Fort Lewis, Washington. She married Richard C. “Dick” Reitz in Bartlett, Kansas, in 1949.
The newly-married couple headed south to Kingsville, Texas, where Richard Michael Reitz and Ronnie Dean Reitz were born during the four years they lived there.
In 1953, work for Celanese meant a transfer to Pampa, Texas.
The couple then had two more children, Becky and Larry, in the next two years.
When Celanese transferred the family to Bay City, Texas, in 1962, Lois began her career in banking.
Once all the children were out of high school and Dick retired from Celanese after 30 years, their lives changed.
They lived and worked in New Jersey, Ohio and Houston. They also lived in Iraq during the Iran/Iraq War and fled for their lives from bombing.
They lived in Seoul, Korea, during the 1988 Olympics when Lois worked for NBC Sports as a hostess for the American Press.
Travel was a consistent theme for the couple, who traveled all around the world, from Alaska to Hong Kong and from Canada to Puerto Rico. Their last overseas venture was to Saudi Arabia before retiring to Horseshoe Bay in 1992.
Lois was a successful real estate agent in Houston and Horseshoe Bay.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Dick Reitz, who died on their 52nd wedding anniversary in 2001. She was also preceded in death by two sons, Richard Michael Reitz (in 1953) and Larry Paul Reitz (in 1996.)
Lois was fortunate enough to have a second love in her life, Alan Bradley Barrows, who said his last bon voyage on Jan. 21, 2015.
She is survived by: her sister and brother-in-law, Shirley Hoobler Howard and Jim Howard of Flat Rock, North Carolina; her son, Ronnie Dean Reitz, and her daughter and son-in-law, Rebecca Lynn Reitz and John Gay.
Lois was blessed with four grandchildren: Michael Paul Reitz and wife, Amber, Brandon Allen Reitz and wife, Barbara, Ronnie Dean Reitz, Jr., and Michelle Cox and husband, Stevie.
Great-granddaughters, Brooke Ava Reitz and Brylie Addison Reitz, add joy to the family; two daughters-in-law blessed her life, Melody Ann Sanders and Toni Hatten.
Alan Barrow’s daughters, Margie Barrow, Lori Skipper and Christe Hayes and grandchildren, Phoebe, Ainsley, Keegan and Peyton also blessed Lois during her life.
The American Cancer Society is the family’s choice for anyone desiring to make a donation in memory of Lois Reitz.
