Lois Ruth (Schroeder) Larsen died August 12, 2018 in Ames after living 93 fulfilling years. She was born Feb. 2, 1925 in Boone, IA to Amanda and Albert Schroeder. Lois was the middle child and outlived both her older sister, Gretchen, and her younger brother, Jack. She was a small town girl (Boone H.S. 1942 and Boone Junior College) with an adventurous spirit. As a single woman, she had jobs at a Navy air base in Florida (now Cape Canaveral), a shop in Yellowstone National Park, and at Iowa State University where she met the love of her life, Einar Larsen. In 1950 they married and moved to Newton, IA where Einar had a career with the Maytag Company and she would raise 4 children. She was an energetic and caring homemaker, friend, and volunteer who belonged to TTT, PEO, and Theta Chi.

Upon retirement in 1987, Lois and Einar moved to Bonita Springs, FL where she continued to enjoy travel, golf, tennis, bridge, and entertaining. As she and Einar kept up the travels they had started in Newton, she especially liked meeting people from different cultures - traveling both the world and the U.S., visiting 22 countries and all 50 states. In 2006 Lois and Einar moved back to Iowa to live at Green Hills in Ames. There she enjoyed her collections of plates, crystal, cut glass, and silver pieces gathered through her travels and family inheritance. She adopted Einar's Norwegian heritage and loved decorating for Christmas and holiday parties with her Norwegian decorations.

Lois was a talented seamstress who made clothes and home furnishings, a cross-stitcher who made intricate table runners and bedspreads, and a prolific knitter - making sweaters for lucky recipients and especially knitting keepsake afghans for every child's and grandchild's high school graduation.

Above all, and much more than her varied interests, activities, and travels, she loved her surviving family: her husband of nearly 68 years, Einar; her 4 children Jenny (and Steve) Lillis of Leawood, KS, Erik (and Paula) Larsen of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Margie (and Rick) Tiedje of Osage Beach, MO, and Julie (and Scott) VanAusdal of Lacey, WA; grandchildren Dr. Erin Simpson, Kelsey (and Ken) Hussey, Minda Larsen (and Boulat Moukhametov), Major Kara Larsen, Erika Larsen, Nick (and Sara) Tiedje, Bill Tiedje, Sean VanAusdal, and Erik VanAusdal; and great-grandchildren Lillian Hussey, Eleanor Hussey, and Brynn Tiedje.

A funeral service will be held at St. John's by the Campus Episcopal Church, 2338 Lincoln Way in Ames, IA at 11:00am on Monday, August 20. Any donations should be made to the American Heart Association.