Lois Hooper Barber

Lois Hooper Barber, 89, passed away on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, at Edgewood Place at The Village of Brookwood.

A native of Rockingham County, Lois was born on April 15, 1930, in Caswell County, NC, to the late Oscar Lee Hooper, Sr. and Arrie Pritchett Hooper. She was preceded in death by her first husband of 35 years, William L. Barber, her second husband of 10 years, J. S. Parrish, and her twin brother, Oscar Lee Hooper, Jr. She is survived by daughter, Sabrah Barber Hardin (Billy) of Julian; sons, Thomas Barber of Gastonia and Tony Reese (Cindy) of Elon; one grandchild, Dillon Reese of Elon; and her brother, Herbert Hooper (Doris) of Reidsville.

Lois grew up on a tobacco farm, and told many stories about those days up until her death. After graduating from Reidsville High School, she married at nineteen and worked for Jefferson Pilot Insurance in Greensboro until the birth of her first child. At one time in her life, she worked as a volunteer to carry people to the voting polls. She had a passion and talent for cooking, vegetable gardening, flowers, sewing, and ceramics. She loved spending time with her family and making holiday dinners. Lois treated everyone she ever met with kindness and consideration, and brought countless people joy with her many acts of kindness. She was always a helping hand to friends and neighbors for anything they needed, gave unselfishly and changed lives in ways we will probably never know. She would take food to the sick, elderly and poor. She loved all animals and would feed and care for the animals without a home. She became a breeder of Chow Chows, but stopped her business as she hated to see her puppies leave.

She loved children and had a special place in her heart for them. She once fostered an infant for six months while the mother was hospitalized. All the neighborhood children loved Lois and her cooking. She would ride a mini-bike with the rest of the kids, until she had an unfortunate encounter on a gravel road. Lois was the one the neighborhood kids would call if they missed the school bus. On Sundays, she would pick up children at the Elon Homes for Children and take them to get ice cream, then take them back with lunch bags filled with BBQ sandwiches. Lois eventually adopted a child from the orphanage who needed a permanent home.

Lois shared a special friendship with Irene and James Hall. The family is thankful for Irene and James’ love of Lois.

Lois was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, grandmother, and friend. She will be deeply missed by many.

The family wishes to extend special thanks to the staff at Edgewood Place for the loving attention and care shown to them and Lois during her stay there.

A special thank you to the staff and CNAs at Cone Home Health, especially Naketia Harvey, who all made it possible for Lois to remain at home before moving to Edgewood Place.

Her funeral will be conducted at Shallow Ford Christian Church, Sunday, November 3, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. by the Reverend Steve Regan. Visitation will be held immediately following the service in the Parlor Room. Lie in State will be at 1:30 p.m.

Memorials may be made to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, for the Breast Cancer Center, P. O. Box 571021, Winston Salem, NC 27157-1021 or Duke University, Office of Gift Records, Attention: Bryan Alzheimer’s Disease Research, 2200 W. Main St., Ste A230, Durham, NC 27705 or Shallow Ford Christian Church, P. O. Box 656, Elon, NC 27244.

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