Lois Arlene (Hitz) Greenway, 85, of St. Louis, Missouri, died Thursday, August 12, 2021. Lois was born on June 25, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the third of four children born to Warren and Alta Hitz.

When Lois was a baby, her father had a dental practice in Chicago which he had taken over from his father. He operated this clinic during the depression when money was scarce. Clients would often pay him in goods, such as chickens or eggs. One payment was a little doll for Lois which remained a keepsake. Since it was difficult for the family to live this way, her father gave up the dental practice and moved the family to California to join his brothers.

Lois went to Conejo Elementary School in Thousand Oaks. The siblings all walked the mile-and-a-half to school or rode their bikes. Here, Lois and her three brothers came to be known as "Three Hitz and a Miss!" At about age eight, Lois jumped off the second floor porch with an umbrella, pretending to be Mary Poppins, and broke her arm.

After a rare winter snowstorm, Lois and her brothers began rolling a snowball down the street until it got so big they could not roll it any further -- a spot which was, unfortunately, right in the middle of the street!

The family moved again her senior year, this time to Bakersfield, California, but she made several special friends who were also new that year. After she graduated from Bakersfield High School, she received her teaching degree from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington and began to teach. She had a winning way with young children and discovered strategic ways to keep them engaged in learning.

During a teaching break, Lois attended a ski weekend for young people at Bear Mountain in California. She realized she needed to get rid of a stray snowball before the church meeting started, so she hastily shoved it down the back of the handsome young man seated in front of her. His name was Lawrence Greenway and it took him about 2 days to ask her out. Three months later, in June of 1963, they were married.

Soon after, they relocated to Cleveland, Ohio where Lois learned to drive in the snow. Shortly after that, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri where they settled and raised two daughters and a son.

Lois enjoyed being a housewife and stay-at-home mother. She was active in her church and enjoyed numerous Bible studies over the years. She was an avid gardener, loved to sew, enjoyed playing the piano and completed much genealogical research. Family outings often involved camping, fishing, canoeing and hiking. The family also traveled to Hitz family reunions every five years since her siblings were spread across the country.

Later, she and Larry visited their adult children in various states. They also enjoyed hiking conservation areas together, took sailing lessons one summer, and made a special trip to Niagara Falls.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, Warren and Alta (Beeh) Hitz, her parents-in-law, Earl and Gertrude (Bandelow) Greenway, and sisters-in-law, Nancy Hitz and Ellen (Greenway) Russell.

She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Lawrence Greenway. She is also survived by her children, Linda Sutton, Lisa (John) Tomlinson, and Michael (Jaymie) Greenway. Lois has seven grandchildren: Shiloh Sutton, Andrew and Rebecca "Rosie" Tomlinson, and John "Jack," Madeleine, Samuel, and Calvin Greenway.

She is also survived by her three brothers, Jerre Hitz of Los Altos Hills, California, Glenn Hitz of Tucson, Arizona and Dale (Naomi) Hitz of Hanna, Wyoming, along with many nieces and nephews.

Please join us in celebrating Lois' life on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. Visitation 10:00 AM until time of service 11:30 AM at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 9733 Olive Blvd., Olivette, MO 63132.  In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Immanuel Lutheran School, Lois Greenway Fund.

https://www.immanuelolivette.org/give-now-online