Grandma's Obituary

1926 ~ 2010

Even though Lois Violetta Melkert Sheide passed away on June 18th, 2010, we keep hearing her voice. "Let me hold that baby!" "Is anyone hungry?" When we mow the lawn, we hear her call out, "You missed a spot!" When we go "garage sale-ing", we feel remiss if we don't ask, at least once, "Would you take a nickel for that?" Our beloved Lois moved on, but her words aren't going anywhere.

Born on June 12, 1926 in Erhard, Minnesota, Lois endured the Depression as one of thirteen siblings. She'd take out her Sears catalog and let her grandpa know which dress she wanted; but that dress, like everything else, was too expensive. They "never had anything." She moved to California in her teens and there met her sweetheart, William Leland Sheide. He took her dancing, and she thought, "Why is he always smiling? What has he got to smile about?" His smile grew wider on
November 18th, 1950 because Lois consented to be his wife. They were married in Reno, Nevada on a weekend and were back to work the next Monday. They spent the next 60 years together in California, Arizona, Minnesota, Virginia, and Orem, Utah.

Lois and Bill raised three remarkable, athletic, fishing-obsessed young men Greg, Gary, and Marty. Lois smoothed their way by feeding them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, scrubbing their house on hands and knees, doing their laundry, attending every single sporting event in Antioch, CA, and taking them on trips to Minnesota every year. When her boys married and had their own children, Lois spoiled the next generation and the next. Grandma gave every grandchild and great-grandchild new jammies and blankets (Pepto-pink for the girls), along with the famous "Grandma treatment" at the cabin in Fergus Falls, MN.

Lois's pep, life, and words are remembered by her sons, Greg (Eldene), Gary (Sherree), and Marty (Cynthia); 9 grandchildren; and 9 1/2 great-grandchildren. We can still hear her say, "Don't bang the door!" and "Let's play the quiet game," and, always, "I love you, Sweetheart."

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 2:30 pm at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State St., Orem. Friends and family may call one hour prior to the services. Interment will be in the Orem City Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.sundbergolpinmortuary.com