Lois Fay Golightly

Lois Fay Golightly, age 90, of Traverse City, Michigan, passed away on Sunday, December 19, 2021. Lois was born in Cannon Falls, Minnesota April 27, 1931, the daughter of Glenn Reinholdt Van Guilder and Helen Clair Sackett. She was preceded in death by her late husband and life partner of 55 years, Warren David Lange (December 05, 1922-December 16, 2018) and her brother Glenn C. Van Guilder. She is survived by her daughter, Jimi Lee Haswell, sons Jeffrey William Haswell and James Lloyd Haswell (Barb), and step-son Calvin Joel Lange, sister-in-law Donna Kay Van Guilder; 13 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. Lois attended school and grew up mostly in the Detroit area, later earning a degree and becoming the first female hired in three previously all-male tech labs (automotive/hydraulics) at the General Motors Tech Center. She was a member of the Detroit and Ann Arbor Friends Meeting (the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers), and active in Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting, the Lake Erie Yearly Meeting, and Friends General Conference. She also was a member, and worked for, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), whose mission is to promote a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. In addition to travelling to and canvassing door-to-door in the final key states needed to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for women, Lois and fellow Quakers travelled to Washington D.C. in 1968 to hold a peaceful, sit-down, demonstration (where they were arrested) in support of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council) under Dr. Ralph Abernathy’s leadership during the Poor Peoples Campaign (12 May 1968 – 24 June 1968). Warren and Lois were also volunteers and supporters of Koinonia Farm in Georgia, the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity International. Long a supporter of civil rights, women’s rights, and senior citizens, Lois was an heartfelt activist and community participant until the end. Things also came full-circle in the 80s when Dr. Ralph Abernathy was invited to NMC as part of the Student Activities Office and Student Government speaker series and they were able to meet. In 1982, Warren and Lois purchased their home in Traverse City, their final “land base”, for the 46’ ketch sailboat they had built from scratch to live on. Active in many aspects of life in Traverse City over the years, many of you have touched her life and meant so much to her. The family thanks you dearly for the friendship and those who have stood and worked together “to fight the good fight”. From 1983-1986 Lois wrote a regular column – The Feminist Forum – in the Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) newspaper, the White Pine Press (WPP). She is currently being recognized in their December 9th, 2021 issue for bringing the renowned feminist artist Judy Chicago’s work (the Birth Project) to NMC campus in 1986, the first showing in Michigan. A celebration of life will be planned for warmer weather. Memorials to the Women’s Resource Center. Mom, we love and miss you and will let you have the final words: “ … So, in line with Walt Whitman’s lines – from his Song of Myself – I would love, in my living “pondering”, to have some ashes buried in the gardens or landscaping soil of your abodes.” I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged. Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.

Lois Fay Golightly

April 27, 1931 - December 19, 2021