Lois Bertha Graves

     Lois Bertha Graves was born on 12 September 1906 in Fruitland, Stevens County, Washington.^1,2 She was the daughter of Roswell Herbert Graves and Minnie Lois Downs.^3,4 She was educated in 1926 in Laurelwood Academy, Laurelwood, Washington County, Oregon.² She was educated about 1930 in Portland San/Hosp Nursing School, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.² She married Martin Whalen on 28 June 1942 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.⁴ She and Martin Whalen were divorced in September 1945 in Oregon.² She died on 12 February 1973 of breast cancer in Escondido, San Diego County, California, at age 66.^3,1 She was cremated on 14 February 1973.⁴ She is memorialized in Oak Hill Memorial Park, Escondido, San Diego County, California^G.¹

"Lois was named "Bertha Lois Graves" at birth but later reversed her first and middle names, as she had always gone by Lois. She was a Registered Nurse, working most often in Southern California. She sometimes spent the summer months in Oregon with her mother in Sutherlin, and would pick huckleberries on the slopes of Mount Hood in August, an Oregon tradition. These would be canned for winter use, along with many other products of the garden. At times she lived year-round in Oregon, and on at least one occasion kept goats and sold their milk, while her mother tended up to a hundred hives of bees and sold their honey. Later in life she bought property in Escondido and built her own home there. Her mother then lived with Lois until Lois's death."⁴