Lois Marie Pence

Lois Marie Pence died February 15, 2026 in Naples, Florida. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Raphael the Archangel Parish in Oshkosh on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at noon. A time of visitation will be from 11am until the time of service. Entombment will be at Lake View Memorial Park.

Lois was 89 years old and lived in Oshkosh since 1964. She received her Bachelors in Education in 1960 from Marquette University and began her teaching career in Milwaukee. In December 1960 she married, John Pence who became City Attorney of Oshkosh in 1964. They moved to a small apartment and Lois began teaching elementary school. She was promoted to teaching at the UW Oshkosh campus school. Eventually after receiving a Masters in Education she taught in the Education Department at UW Oshkosh. Lois was considered one of the outstanding faculty, receiving the Distinguished Colleague Award in 1985. When the need for Special Education professors was presented, Lois volunteered to attend UW Milwaukee and earned an MA in Special Education. She eventually served as department head, and the chair of the tenure review committee. She retired in 1998. She and John became Florida residents in 2000 and John died in 2002. They had many Oshkosh and Florida friends.

The joy of John and Lois's life was John's brother, Harry who lived with them after his Mother died. Harry had special needs and attended the workshop in Oshkosh. He lived to be 55 years old. Her other joy was serving as matriarch of her family. She was the oldest of 6 siblings and was very involved with her brother and sisters and their children and grandchildren. In Florida she became involved with Ave Maria University, co-sponsoring an annual conference among other support. She will be remembered at a Mass at Ave Maria celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Friday, March 13 at 4pm.