Freeport
Lois Eleanor Harlan, 91, of Freeport, died Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at the Parkview Home.
Born June 28, 1920, in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan she was the daughter of Bruce and F. Lois (Reilly) Whiting.
During her childhood she lived for the most part in the Chicago area, as she, her mother, and 2 younger brothers followed her father, who serviced as an engineer/ troubleshooter in various industrial establishments.
She graduated from Warrenton Country School in Virginia in 1937, attended Wells College in Aurora, New York, 1937-1939, and the University of Chicago, where she earned her B.A. (1941) and M.A. degrees (1942).
She married Robert H. Harlan of Freeport on May 15, 1942, in Chicago. He died in 1998.
She started her teaching career during World War II, first in Virginia and Pennsylvania and then in Winnetka, Illinois. After her husband was discharged from the military following World War II, they returned to Freeport, her husband's home town and where she had lived in 1936-37. She taught at Union School and First Ward School for two years, but then joined her husband during his thirty years in the Foreign Service of the United States of America, with years spent in Germany, Libya, Pakistan, Iran, South Vietnam, and France, as well as Washington, D.C...
After her husband's retirement from government service, in 1978, she and her husband returned to the Freeport area.
Later they became members of Parkview Home and moved to Parkview Gardens.
Lois was an active member of the Freeport League of Women Voters and of Chapter BE of P.E.O. She was a lifelong Episcopalian and a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Freeport. For a number of years she served on the board of the Stephenson county Senior Center and also in other volunteer capacities in the community.
She and her husband were recipients of the Freeport Township's "Service in Work Clothes" Award in 1994. From 1980 to 1994 she taught English as a Second Language at Highland Community College.
Surviving are her daughters, Lucy W. Harlan of Plymouth, MN and Heidi (Gerald) Krape of Naples, Florida; her son, Stephen Harlan of Renton, WA; 6 grandchildren; and 6 great grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; and 2 brothers.
Cremation rites have been accorded.
Memorial services will be 11:00 a.m. Wednesday,
September 21, 2011 at Grace Episcopal Church.
In lieu of flowers memorials have been established for the Harlan Scholarship at the Highland Community College Foundation, Grace Episcopal Church, or Parkview Home.
Please views Lois's Guest Book and sign the condolence page at www.walkermortuary.com