Lois Marie Roberts

Memorials to Parkinson’s Research; Lois Marie Roberts was born on November 29, 1933 in Lindsey, Nebraska to Farmers, Theodore (Ted) and Henrietta (Ramaeker) Polzin. Lois was the first born of six children. She grew up on a farm in the area of Lindsey, Nebraska. As a young girl, Lois helped around the house with her younger siblings and performed chores on the farm such as feeding and tending the chickens. The families’ strong values included close family, hard work and faith. At 14 years old, Lois moved from her family home and the farm to live with a family in the town of Schuyler. This was done to enable her to attend high school. She helped the woman of the house with cooking, cleaning and attending to their five children, in addition to her own studies. Later while still in high school, she moved to an apartment with a girlfriend from school. Lois then worked at the local café in Schuyler, called Mac’s. Her High School interests included, Glee Club, Chorus, and Pep Club. She graduated from Schuyler High School in 1951. After graduation, Lois earned a teaching certificate and taught children between the ages of 6 to 13 years old at the Country School in Bellwood, Nebraska. Lois married Randolph (Randy) Vesley on September 12, 1951. The couple lived in Schuyler and Lois taught school in Richland, Nebraska. She continued her teaching career for 6 years. The couple were blessed with four children: Randolph, Jr., Dorothy and twins Doreen and Diane. Tragically, Randolph Sr. died while Lois was pregnant with the twins. Soon after, Lois moved her family to Omaha where she gave birth to her son Daniel. Her sister, Judy moved in to assist with the children while Lois worked nights at Montgomery Wards. In 1968, Lois moved the family to Fremont, Ne. As a young single mother, Lois continued her education and earned a Bookkeeping/Accounting certificate. The additional training assisted her to become a Payroll Associate at Pendleton Woolen Mills in Fremont, NE in 1973. She continued her employment with the company until her retirement in 1996. In 1974, Lois met Joe Roberts through mutual friends’, and they began to date. Lois had her three children and Joe had two boys of similar ages to Lois’s children. On June 6, 1975 Lois and Joe were married, uniting their families. They became a family of seven, with four teenagers and a pre-teen. The house was full and often loud, but it was a good union for everyone. Lois enjoyed sewing, crocheting, crafts of all kinds, baking, canning vegetables in the summer and working jigsaw puzzles. She was a strong, kind, loving, patient and faithful woman. Lois was an avid Husker fan and never missed a televised game, no matter what the score. She savored a duck dinner with dumplings and sauerkraut and her favorite restaurant was Farmer Brown’s. Lois passed away on June 8, 2020 at Life Care of Elkhorn at the age of 86 years, 6 months and 10 days. She was preceded in death by her parents Theodore and Henrietta, husbands Randolph and Joe, brothers Ted and Donald, three children, Randolph Jr., Dorothy (Dottie) and Diane and granddaughter Andrea Kruger. Lois is survived by daughter Doreen Decker of Omaha; sons Kent and Teri Roberts of Valley, Dan and Cheryl Roberts of Portland, OR and Kurt and Michelle Roberts of Kingston, WA; 11 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren; Brothers Dave “Art” (Sharon) of Fremont and Bob (Boni) of Lincoln; sister Judy Cummings (Bob) of Schuyler, NE .

Lois Marie Roberts

November 29, 1933 - June 8, 2020