Lois Ruth Belnap Erickson

Lois Ruth Belnap Erickson 1920 - 2011
PROVO - Lois Ruth Belnap Erickson, 91, passed away peacefully and joyfully the morning of October 27, 2011 after sharing a special message with each of her children.
Lois was born October 7, 1920, in Ogden, Utah to Arias Guy Belnap and Mabel Harris Belnap. She was the oldest daughter and second of five children. She was raised in Ogden.
On January 24, 1944, Lois married Eldred Hilmar Erickson in the Salt Lake LDS Temple while Eldred was serving in the military as a radar specialist. They raised their eight children in Ogden and Pleasant View, Utah, after which she moved to Cove Point in Provo.
Lois attended Lorin Farr School, Central Junior High School, where she was a Year Book staff member, and graduated with the first class of the new Ogden High School in1938. A graduate of Weber State College (University), she also studied at Brigham Young University and took classes from Utah State University and LDS Literature and Music Workshops. While at Weber she was Vice President of the Weber Club, on the Acorn Staff, a member of Iota Tau Kappa Sorority, and on the Business Typing Team.
She was employed at the Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital in Ogden, first with the nursing staff and then the business office, and eventually became the business manager. For 21 years she served as the area director of the Ogden Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Lois was active in many church, school, and community activities, including Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, PTA room mother and treasurer, Cub Scout den mother, RSVP volunteer, and Senior Citizen volunteer. She was honored for serving as a 4-H leader for 25 years.
Pleasant View City asked Lois to serve on various city planning committees, also as its bail commissioner, and she was the City's Community Beautification chairman when it received state awards.
In 1976 Lois was the Weber County-Ogden Mother of the Year, and was selected as the first alternate Mother of the Year of the State of Utah by the Utah Mothers' Association. She served on the state committee and helped transition to the American Mothers', Inc. She is a Silver Chair Merit Mother.
She was an active, lifetime member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was an original Golden Gleaner, sang in and led many choirs, was a Relief Society president and teacher, Relief Society and Sunday School stake board member, Young Women president, Primary president, dance director, road show writer and director, and sang in one of the first youth choirs of the Church, the Lieder Kranz Chorus.
She and Eldred served church missions to the Illinois Peoria Mission and Salt Lake Temple Square.
Lois was always busy serving her family and friends. Many received her well-known thank you and birthday cards, which typically included photographs she had taken of them. She dearly loved her husband, family and friends and shared with them her interests in gardening, cooking, reading, canning, sewing, scripture study, family history and genealogy.
She is survived by her eight children: Bruce (Joyce), Janet (Randall) Gee, Susan (James) Schmidt, David (Cindy), Nancy (Ray) Jensen, Chris (Keli), Ellen Anson and Jeane (Steven) Burton. She has 42 grand children and 64 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Eldred, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 11 a.m. at the Grand View 1st Ward Chapel, 1555 North 1350 West, Provo, Utah, with Cove Point Branch President Ron Madsen officiating. A viewing will be held before the service from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Interment will be at the Ben Lomond Cemetery in North Ogden, Utah about 3:00 p.m., or soon thereafter, when a graveside service will be held.
In lieu of flowers donations, may be made to the general missionary fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 50 E. North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.