Lois was born on July 14, 1935, in Wolf Point, MT, the daughter of John and Myrtle (Torrison) Warmbrod. She attended country school with her brothers and graduated from Wolf Point High School in 1953. She attended Montana State College at Bozeman majoring in accounting. It was there she met Thomas “Tom” Balcer. They were married on September 21, 1957, in Wolf Point. Lois gave up finishing college to become a wife and mother. They welcomed four children into their lives: Merilyn, Mike, Josie, and Patty. In 1963, they moved to Sidney, MT, where Lois remained for the next 40 years raising children, selling concessions during swim meets, running for city alderman, serving on the city/county planning board, playing bridge, throwing darts for the Elks Lodge Team, bowling, hosting Wednesday lunches for the grandkids and their friends, raising a beautiful garden year after year, and canning the best pickles in the county. She was a veteran DIYer, reupholstering furniture, refinishing trunks, building dollhouses and sewing dresses for her granddaughters. She loved to travel in her retirement years and took many of her grandkids to Vegas for their 21st birthdays. As her children entered school, Lois began working campaigns at Holly Sugar; first in the accounting office, then lab, and finally payroll clerk and bookkeeper ultimately retiring in 1992. Tom passed away in 1991 and Lois never remarried.
Lois continued to enjoy summers at Fort Peck Lake in a cabin she and Tom built by hand in 1967. There she taught two generations to play canasta, waterski, fish, and enjoy life.
Lois died on Wednesday evening, April 11, 2018, at the St. John’s Lutheran Home, Billings, MT.
She is survived by: her son, Michael (Lori) Balcer, Shepherd, MT; her 3 daughters, Merilyn (Steve) Douglass, Garden City, KS, Josie (Kent) Meek, Troutville, VA, and Patty (Al) Whitford, Sidney, MT; her 9 grandchildren, and 18 Great Grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by: her parents, husband-Tom, sister-Jean Warmbrod; brothers-Leland Warmbrod and Jack Warmbrod.