(Photo Provided)

Lois Rowe, 80 years old and going strong, retired from DePuy after 31 years.Ten of those years were working before having children. She then returned to work for another 21 years after her children were older.

Lois designed labels for hips and knees. She now has eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren and has lived all her life in the southern part of Kosciusko County. Lois first learned about hospice in 1979 when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Hospice nurses, aides, social workers, homemakers and volunteers through Kosciusko Home Care & Hospice provided support and encouragement. Both Lois and her husband worked at the time and were raising four children.

“The support was amazing, we could not have done it on our own,” said Lois. Hospice volunteer Jean Kerlin regularly visited her mother and provided support for the family. “It was my mother’s desire to die at home surrounded by family and we were able to satisfy her request with the help of hospice.”

After experiencing the support of hospice first hand, Lois knew when she retired she wanted to become a hospice volunteer. She completed the training 10 years ago and has been supporting hospice patients and their families ever since.

More and more of her time is spent offering bereavement care. “After the death of my husband, it made me feel better helping others with their loss,” said Lois.

Lois also gives back to her community as a volunteer at her church, Trinity United Methodist, in the Salvation Army Auxiliary, as an usher at the Wagon Wheel Theatre, at the hostess desk at KCH and through yearly mission trips to the Sun Valley Indian School in Arizona.

Her life has impacted so many and continues to bring encouragement and hope during some of the darkest times for our local families.

For more information about Hospice or becoming a Hospice Volunteer contact Kosciusko Home Care & Hospice at 574-372-3401. Kosciusko Home Care & Hospice, Inc. is a local, non-profit agency serving our community for almost 40 years.