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Lois Ringstrom Helton Spinrad MAT ’63

Lois Ringstrom Helton Spinrad MAT ’63, October 2, 2010, in Seattle, Washington. Lois was an individual of great personal strength: a teacher, weaver, knitter, and musician. She earned a BA in social studies education from Stanford University, and married Paul Helton; they had a daughter and three sons and later divorced. While raising and supporting her children, Lois earned an MAT in chemistry from Reed, and taught science in the Beaverton School District. She worked for the school district for 20 years, and in her position as district administrator she met nuclear physicist Bernard Spinrad. They married in 1983 and moved to Ames, Iowa, where Bernard headed the nuclear physics department at Iowa State University. In Ames, Lois studied weaving with Emmy Hammond Shakeshaft ’51. Lois and Bernard retired to Seattle. Lois is remembered as a loving, disciplined, and adventurous person, who appreciated beauty in the arts and also in nature. Survivors include a daughter and three sons and her sister. Bernard died in 1999.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2011