Obituary of Lois Ledell Showalter

Lois Ledell Showalter died on February 18, 2019, in Tumwater, Washington.  She was born Lois Jane Ledell on June 9, 1919, in Seattle, Washington, to Grace Tranmer Ledell and Chalmers Ledell.    

 

After graduating from West Seattle High School, she went on to the University of Washington, where she met her future husband, Ralph Showalter, in philosophy class. She later received a Master’s degree from the Smith School of Social Work.  She was selected as one of eight women by the National Institutes of Health for its first training program to establish the profession of “mental health counselor,” and was a therapist for many years in Bethesda, Maryland. 

 

Ralph and Lois were active in the union (United Auto Workers) and civil rights movements in Chicago, Detroit, Portland (Oregon), and Washington, D.C., and retired to Olympia.  She was also an avid reader, gardener, and cook.

 

She is survived by her three daughters, Ann Strosnider (Bruce) of Port Orchard, Washington, Jane Showalter of Tumwater, and Marilyn Showalter (Steve Aos) of Port Ludlow, Washington; and by four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.   

 

She died peacefully, assisted with great kindness by Assured Hospice and the Hampton Alzheimer’s Special Care Center, in Tumwater.

 

No flowers, please.  No service is planned.

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