Rev. Lois Williams’ Estate Benefits Mahaska Hospice

Shown after presenting Lois Williams’ estate check to Mahaska Hospice are, from left: Mahaska Health CEO Kevin DeRonde; Williams’ daughters Shirley Peiffer and Mary Beth Northcutt, Hospice Coordinator Kim Stek, and Mahaska Health Foundation Director Cathy Stahl. (submitted photo)

MAHASKA COUNTY — For the Rev. Lois Williams, hospice was truly her heart. When she went to the Lord at the age of 94, she left a legacy of caring and generosity by designating a portion of her estate to benefit Mahaska Hospice Services.

“Lois was the most giving person I have ever met,” said Mahaska Hospice Services Coordinator Kim Stek. “She started off as a volunteer secretary for hospice when we were the first rural hospice in Iowa back in the mid-80s. She has been ministering to hospice patients and their families for more than 20 years and was such a huge part of our hospice family.”

Stek said Williams was known for her homemade noodles, and she would make enormous amounts of food to feed the community once a month at the fire station in Eddyville. “She was just very sharing,” Stek explained. “She was always giving back to the community.”

As a volunteer chaplain, Williams visited patients and their families throughout Mahaska and Keokuk counties. Stek said she was still driving her car to patients’ homes until close to the end of her life. “She did such a wonderful job as our volunteer chaplain, and she did not want to give that up. And of course, our patients, family members and our hospice staff all thought the world of her.”

According to her daughters, Shirley Peiffer and Mary Beth Northcutt, their mother lived her faith every day. She became an ordained minister at the age of 16, and began her lifelong journey for God. She and their father, Wayne, had six children and were foster parents to 32 children.

“Mom and Dad were married for 39 years when he passed away in 1985,” Northcutt said. “Together, they touched so many lives.”

Towards the end of her life, Williams was admitted to the Pella hospital. Peiffer said that she insisted her family call Mahaska Hospice, and Kim Stek was one of the people who came to see her. “She wanted to be transferred to the Serenity House right away,” Pilfer explained. “Kim said, ‘what about tomorrow,’ and mom said, ‘how about today?’ And less than two hours later, the ambulance was taking her to the Serenity House. When they got her settled in her room, she said, ‘I’m finally home.’”

Four days after arriving “home” Lois passed peacefully away, surrounded by those she loved.

“Its bitter sweet that she lived her whole life knowing and understanding hospice, and could provide those services to people that she met and knew, and at the end, it being a service she used,” Northcutt said. “It was a real blessing for all of us.”

Her family said that was the purpose of her giving a portion of her estate to Hospice. “It helps to assure her legacy of caring and generosity lives on,” Peiffer explained. “She saw the good in everyone, and she wanted to continue helping those in need. She loved having the Serenity House open, and wanted to continue her support of this wonderful facility.”