Lois Ann Bonham

BONHAM, Lois Ann, age 85, of Waynesville, passed away Thursday, February 9, 2023. Lois was a spiritual and caring mother, grandmother, daughter, friend, and neighbor. A modest upbringing on a farm in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia formed the basis of her worldview and values. She lived by the principles and lessons of her parents, intertwining practicality and reverence. She moved to Ohio in the ’60s when she married Doyle. Together they made a home near Waynesville, where she raised her son, Tom, and lived for the remainder of her life. Gardening and canning fruits and vegetables was a means of getting by at times, but it also served as a hobby and therapy for a worrier who liked to keep busy. She was well-known for abundant vegetables from the garden in addition to holiday treats such as buckeyes and peanut butter fudge. She preferred the outdoors most of the year but occupied herself in the winter with activities such as quilting, cracking walnuts, or researching family history. She most appreciated hand-made items, especially pieces of yesteryear that conjured a story from her past. If truth be told, she preferred enjoying a simple life at home, like warming by a wood-burning fire or sharing a home-cooked meal with family. Still, her love for her husband and son was evident in how she supported and joined in their passions—horseback riding with Doyle and Tom and later traveling with Tom and Marci. Special travel moments included a rail journey to visit Denali National Park, enjoying sticky toffee pudding at the Sign of the Angel Inn in Wiltshire, England, and visiting Willis ancestral sites near Fenny Compton, Warwickshire, England, the latter of which was part of an 80th birthday trip to Ireland and Great Britain. Her most recent airline flights were part of her second visit to Ireland when her grandson, Gabriel, was born in 2020. He became the light of her life for her remaining years. While she adapted amazingly well to using an iPad and FaceTime to interact with Gabriel from afar, she relished his visits to Waynesville and the time they spent together eating raspberries and grapes picked off the vine, harvesting pumpkins, and playing with toys, some of which were originally Tom’s and others collected while thrift shopping with her best friend, Pam. Challenged over the years by breast cancer, the loss of her husband relatively early in life, and the loss of family and close friends, she forged ahead with tenacity and courage, taking pride in keeping up her place with the help of neighbors and friends, much as her mother had done at her birthplace in Virginia. Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Doyle, in 1986; parents, Guy and Viana Willis; and one sister, June Phillips. She is survived by one son, Thomas (Marci) Bonham; and grandson, Gabriel Bonham. Funeral services will be 11 AM Friday, February 17, 2023, at Stubbs-Conner Funeral Home in Waynesville. Burial will be in Miami Valley Memorial Gardens in Centerville. Dale McCloud will be officiating the services. The family will receive friends 6 – 8 PM Thursday, February 16, at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to UN Women Ukraine Appeal, https://unwomenusa.org/ukraineappeal. Condolences at www.stubbsconner.com.

Lois Ann Bonham

September 24, 1937 - February 9, 2023