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Lois Gerstenberger Butler passed away peacefully at 97 years of age on Feb. 11, 2026, in Hood River, Oregon. She was born on Oct. 19, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Hugo and Helen (Hink) Gerstenberger. Raised in the Depression by her widowed mother, her grandmother, and a great aunt after her father died, Lois graduated from Shaw High School and worked in the physics lab at GE’s Nela Park.
She met Bruce Butler (an engineer/lawyer) on a blind date. They married on April 15, 1950, and moved to Toledo and then to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Lois and Bruce had three children, Roberta, Mark, and Judith. Lois was proud to say that she was a homemaker. She also was interested in getting the secondary education that she could not afford as a teenager, attending classes at the University of Toledo and Kent State University. Lois joined the P.E.O. Sisterhood, helped to raise money for scholarships for women like herself who couldn’t afford college, and served on the Ohio PEO state board. She continued this affiliation all her life. Her children are forever grateful that Lois and Bruce’s priorities included educating their children and learning about the world and the people around them. This meant family vacations across America in the family’s 1964 Volkswagen microbus. They saw the physical beauty of our country, toured historic places and U.S. national parks, sat in on sessions of Congress, and met amazing people. Some of those vacations took the family to sea coasts — Cape Cod, Cape Hatteras. Seashelling on Sanibel Island held a special place in her heart and she returned there many times.
As the children grew up, Lois worked briefly out of the home: newspaper typesetting, a salesperson, and a “secret shopper” for a department store. She volunteered for an art store and as ward visitor in a psychiatric unit. Home, family, and friends were central for her. Bruce’s job took the couple out of Ohio, living in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and for five great years in Alaska before returning to Ohio. They visited Great Britain, Scotland, Russia (with Mark), and New Zealand (with Judith). Lois was an accomplished family historian, having helped her husband with the Butler genealogy and going on to work on the Gerstenberger Family History book. She attended five Gerstenberger family reunions, three in Germany and two in the U.S. Retiring to Asheville, North Carolina, Lois and Bruce attended classes at the College for Seniors. She made close friends and continued the tap-dancing she had enjoyed as a child. She joined a group of women from the college called Rosen’s Rascals, performing tap and theater dancing at nursing homes and for shut-ins in the Asheville area.
After Bruce’s death, Lois moved in 2006 to Hood River, Oregon, to be closer to her children and grandchildren, all living on the west coast. She led an active life in Hood River. She was active in the altar guild of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, where she found many opportunities to volunteer. Lois enjoyed participating in the adult exercise classes at the Hood River Valley Senior Center even as a 95 year old; she liked going to movies and plays with her friends, going for drives in the valley, and playing bridge regularly until last year. Lois was fiercely independent, wanting to live as long as she could in her own home with no one else living with her to help.
Lois was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Bruce Butler, and her brother Donald Gerstenberger. She is survived by her three children, Roberta Butler (Bertram Levy), Mark Butler (Elva Cerda), and Judith Webb (John Webb); by four grandchildren, Luke Webb (Susie Webb), Paul Webb (Madeline Hodek), Madeline Levy (Michael Janney), and Elisabeth (Webb) Plimpton (Reed Plimpton); and by great-grandchild Katherine Plimpton.
The family would like to thank all the staff at Parkhurst Place, Providence Hospice, and Hood River Memorial Hospital for their attentive and incredibly kind care in her final year.
Services will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 400 11th St., Hood River, on March 7 at 2 p.m. Lois will be buried next to her husband Bruce in Butler Hill Cemetery in Knoxville, Pennsylvania, at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to St. Mark’s in Hood River.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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