Lois Fiske Heitzke, 90, passed away peacefully on Friday, September 29, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas. She was born on February 13, 1933, in Marlborough, Mass.
Lois was a graduate of Centenary Junior College in Hackettstown, N.J. where she earned an Associates degree. She met Ken, her husband, while he was attending the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Throughout the years, Lois was a devoted military wife, moving many times with her four children to several military bases around the world, including Eritrea, Ethiopia. In each location, Lois became very involved in various philanthropic organizations that helped improve the lives of the officers and their families.
Eventually, Lois and her family settled in Monroe, where she continued to be active in local charitable organizations, such as Monroe’s Welcome Wagon. In her spare time, she earned her Realtor’s license and was a successful agent, helping both friends and family buy and sell their homes.
Lois enjoyed many pastimes including tennis and cycling. She was also an avid and talented crafter. She enjoyed painting, quilting, sewing, knitting, and many other forms of crafting, which she often gifted to friends and family.
Wherever she was living, Lois became very involved in her church community. Lois also enjoyed donating her time and effort at both the Bargain Box and The Church Mouse in Hilton Head, S.C. In 2012, she moved with Ken to San Antonio, Texas, where they lived at Air Force Village until Ken’s passing in 2015.
Lois will best be remembered for her energy, public service, her creativity, and her devotion to her family and friends.
She was predeceased by her father, Walter Ellis Fiske and her mother, Eleanor Landry Fiske and her husband, Col. (Ret.) Kenneth S. Heitzke.
She leaves behind four children, Michele Donofrio (Wayne) of Monroe, Stephen Heitzke (Deborah) of Boerne, Texas, Denise McLaughlin (Robert) of Bluffton, S.C., and Jennifer Heitzke of Monroe; as well as seven grandchildren, Christopher Donofrio, Ashley Donofrio, Michael Heitzke, Kerstin Heitzke, Calvin Campopiano, Corey Campopiano and Chariot DeFeo.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly asks for donations to be given in Lois’s memory to the Monroe Scholarship Fund, Inc., PO Box 691, Monroe, CT 06468. A scholarship for a graduating high school student was created in her husband Ken’s memory, something she felt very strongly about.
Funeral service information will be forthcoming.
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