Lois Marie (Smith) Skaggs, 94, a life-long resident of Ponca City, Oklahoma, went to meet her Lord on Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Lois was born in Ponca City on December 15, 1929, to Velta (Andrews) Smith and John McCllain Smith. She attended Ponca City schools and, in high school, fell in love with the boy who sat behind her in English class. Thomas Hale Skaggs and Lois Marie Smith married on February 8, 1948, and enjoyed a 74-year romance until her true love went to heaven two years ahead of her. Their marriage was full of love, friendship, passion, respect, laughter, handholding, and their mutual love for Jesus. They faithfully served the Second Baptist Church and later the First Baptist Church in different roles throughout their lives. They raised five grateful children who gave them the joy of nine grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.

Lois was funny and laughed easily. Her quick wit and teasing nature were always close to the surface, and she enjoyed ‘picking on’ people she loved, almost as much as she liked being teased. She and Tommy loved company, and their home was frequently filled with the laughter of good friends playing Uno, Aggravation, or any card or board game. Lois was happiest when her house was full. At quieter times, she enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table with Tommy, looking out the big picture window at her flower garden, and watching the hummingbirds flitting around the feeder. Another favorite spot was their front porch glider where they took their coffee and invited the neighbors walking by to sit with them and chat. They knew the names of their neighbors and their children, and in their later years, these kind neighbors checked in on Tommy and Lois and helped them in many ways to make their lives easier.

Lois was creative and talented in several arts. She gave each child and grandchild one of her beautifully handsewn quilts, a craft she learned from her mother. She was also a talented seamstress. She made clothes for her children, including suit coats for her sons and wedding dresses for her daughters, and she made stuffed dolls and doll clothes for her daughters and granddaughters. Always curious, eager to learn something new, she took up upholstery, tailoring, sewing drapery, and making exquisite china dolls, delicately painting their faces. She had a servant’s heart and used her talents whenever she saw an opportunity -- crocheting caps for premature babies and blankets for people in the nursing homes, sewing pillows for those in the hospital, and mending or altering clothes for anyone who had a need. If she made something with a pocket, there was always a dollar inside because “pockets shouldn’t be empty”.

Lois created a loving home for her husband and five children, and when her youngest started school, she began working outside the home. After ten years in the personnel department with Conoco, she and her husband, also a Conoco employee, retired together. Their retirement came just in time for more grandbabies to begin arriving, which happily occupied the first several years of their retirement.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Skaggs, her parents, Velta (Andrews) Smith and John McCllain Smith, by her brothers John William Smith and Verle “Sonny” Smith, and by her grandson, Joseph Wayne Skaggs. Lois is survived by her sister, Shirley Osborne Barber, her children, Roger Skaggs, Kirby Skaggs (Kay), Judy Marie Jensen, Lydia Young (Wayne), and Amy Lu Keen (Michael), by her grandchildren, Angela Skaggs McReynolds (Richard), Sarah Skaggs Franz (Peter), Bill Skaggs (Sunny), Thomas Jensen (Leah), Amy Jensen Kopke (William), Dallas Young (Angie), Judd Young, and Reuben Young (Hannah), and by her 21 greatgrandchildren.

All friends are invited to join in the celebration of Lois’ life at 10:00am, Saturday, June 29th, at the First Baptist Church Chapel, 218 S 6th Street, Ponca City, OK.

Paid Obituary