Lois Jeane Burkhardt, 96, passed away in Irvine, California, on February 20, 2024.

Born Lois J. Ordway in Jackson, Michigan, on March 9, 1927, she attended Jackson High School, graduating in 1945. She met her beloved husband of 72 years, Robert Edward Burkhardt, in 1946 and they married on August 31, 1947.

Lois said the most important part of her life was caring for her family – her husband Robert and their three boys – Ronald, Christopher, and Douglas.

"I had my kids 24/7 for 20 years," Lois explained. "Now I am so blessed to have three sons who love and care about me."

Beginning in 1964, Lois enjoyed a 20-year career as a leading sales representative and fashion model in the style shows of the sportswear department at Jacobson's, an upscale department store in Jackson. She left Jacobson's in 1984, when Lois and Robert moved to Barstow, California, after Robert was named Director of Planning for the Fort Irwin military base outside of Barstow. Lois then began an 11-year career as scanning room coordinator for the post exchange at Fort Irwin. She retired from Fort Irwin in 1995.

Demonstrating her life-long interest in serving her family and community, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Lois took on the role of "den mother" for Jackson's Cub Scout Pack 384, an organization all three of her boys took part in.

Her church and her belief in God were vital to Lois. In Jackson, she sang in the church choir at Trinity Lutheran Church and later Redeemer Lutheran Church, where she and Robert were members from the late 1950s until they moved to Barstow in 1984. In Barstow, Lois and Robert became active member of Concordia Lutheran Church, where Lois often plated the piano during church services.

Her artistic nature also found expression in hobbies that included quilting and ceramics, and she loved to play golf and tennis.

After retiring in 1995, Lois and Robert embarked on a series of travel experiences, including flying on the supersonic Concorde jet between London and New York City in 1996. The couple also enjoyed several cruises on the Queen Elizabeth II in the late 1990s that took them to Hawaii, to England, to Bermuda, and to Colombia via the Panama Canal.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband Robert in 2019; by her mother, Zelda Mae Ordway (Cushing) in 1934; by her father, Everard G. Ordway, in 1972; and her beloved sister, Thelma Joy Ordway (Aylesworth), in 2011.

Lois Burkhardt is survived by her three loving sons, Ronald Robert Burkhardt of West Palm Beach, Florida; Christopher Todd Burkhardt and his wife, Cathie Ann, of Fountain Valley, California; Douglas Craig Burkhardt of White Salmon, Washington; and by granddaughter Clare Amber Burkhardt of White Salmon, Washington