Following an extended period of problems for COPD and oxygen deficiency, Lois Ames Mastalerz died on Dec. 12, 2009, at the Liberty Commons Rehabilitation & Skilled Care Center in North Chatham, Mass.
Lois was 81 years old and married to her husband, John, for 55 years. Her children were Mark Mastalerz, of Alexandria, Va., Liane Bowles, of Chandler, Ariz., and Jay Mastalerz, from State College. Her grandchildren were Dustin Bowles and Isabella Bowles. Her brother, Clinton A. Coolidge, died several years ago.
Lois was born in Waltham, graduated from Waltham High School, and the Catherine Gibbs Secretarial School (now Gibbs College) in Boston. For a short period, she was a secretary for the National Republican Party in Boston, followed at the Waltham Field Station of the University of Massachusetts, where she met and married John Mastalerz, professor of floriculture.
Four years later, John became a professor of horticulture at the Pennsylvania State University. Mark was born in Waltham. Liane and Jay were born in State College. Lois earned a Bachelor of Science degree in liberal arts at Penn State; she served as a part-time editorial assistant for university faculty members in chemistry, biochemistry and psychology.
On retirement after 30 years, Lois and John moved to their home in South Chatham. Lois was very active. She delivered Meals on Wheels once a week for 10 years. She raised and trained four different Labrador puppies for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. She was a member of the Chatham Council on Aging Board, South Chatham Library board of directors, Chatham Disability Committee, and the Chatham Ecumenical Council for the Homeless. Assisting Barry Clifford, she recorded on individual cards many of the items collected from the pirate ship Whydah. Honoring her ancestors, John and Mary Coolidge, Watertown 1630, Lois was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames 17th Century (The Patience Brewster Chapter), The Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America Commonwealth of Massachusetts Chapter (founder John Coolidge, Patriot Silas Coolidge), Daughters of American Colonists Massachusetts State Society, and Daughters of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (ancestor Nathanial Coolidge).
Arrangements were by the Nickerson Funeral Home, Chatham. Burial will be at a later date.