Lois Lillian Spane passed away on the morning of June 2, 2012, in Kennewick, Wash., after recently relocating from Federal Way, Wash., to be closer to her oldest son’s family who live in Richland. She was 85 at the time of her passing, and was recovering from recent cancer radiation treatments, and the effects from an acquired blood infection. During the cancer recovery phase, Lois continued to have a zest for life, and maintained her matriarchal position within the Spane family.
Lois and her identical twin sister Joyce were born on Sept. 15, 1926, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up in New Orleans and her childhood experiences and young adult remembrances served as a fertile background for the stories she would later tell her own children with stories of growing up in the South. She was a consummate storyteller, and her family and friends never tired in listening to her repeat the same stories with her particular flair and deep emotional content that she would impart.
Lois was a good student in high school, and worked as a Southern Bell telephone operator during WWII. She met her future husband Frank Spane at a USO dance in 1945, while he was stationed in New Orleans with the Navy. She and her twin sister Joyce got married during a double wedding ceremony at Saint Louis Cathedral, in New Orleans in November 1945. Lois had three children and found time during parenting to help her husband establish Frank and Guy’s meat market, which was a fixture for over four decades in the Federal Way area.
She loved the romance of the West, country-western music (Charlie Pride and Johnny Cash), and her bookshelf was lined with Zane Grey novels. Lois was athletic, and, along with her twin sister, Joyce, won many Catholic high school league sprint competitions within the New Orleans dioceses. When her sons were of baseball age, she unflaggingly pitched them batting practice and hit them countless flies and grounders to hone their baseball skills. Lois had a deceptive slider that was hard to hit when she spotted it on the outside corner of the plate. An avid baseball fan, she followed the Seattle Mariners faithfully, and rejoiced in their victories and was surprisingly philosophical by their frequent loses. Ichiro was her favorite Mariner, and he hit two home runs
in an extra-inning win over the White Sox on the day that she passed. We would like to think that Mom had a hand in Ichiro’s success that day.
She was preceded in passing by her husband Frank Spane Sr., her parents, brother, half-sister, and identical twin sister Joyce. She is survived by her 3 children Frank Spane Jr. (wife Kathy), Tom Spane (wife Felicia) and Joanne Goddard (husband Dan), 6 grandchildren (Jeff, Greg, Tom Jr., Jared, Jennifer and Ashley) and 2 great-grandchildren.
Graveside services will be held Friday, June 8, 2012, 3:00 p.m., at St. Patrick Cemetery in Kent, Washington. The family invites you to sign their online guestbook at www.muellersfuneralhomes.com.
