Eliza Lois Mason

The Obituary Deaconess Eliza Lois Wilson Mason Lois was born Saturday, May 19, 1917, in Burgaw, Pender County, North Carolina, the second of four children of Rev. Millard O. Wilson and Mrs. Bessie J. Wilson. Lois grew up on a farm in a family who had high Christian standards and believed in a good educational foundation. She received her education in a one-room schoolhouse until she reached seventh grade, and she continued her schooling facing many obstacles. After high school, she worked awhile before going off to Elizabeth City College where she continued to work until she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education. Some years later, she attended and received her Master’s Degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. Having taught school for over forty years in Maple Hill, North Carolina, and Sussex County, Virginia, Lois retired in 1981. She then offered her services by volunteering in the gift shop of the Greenville Memorial Hospital in Emporia, Virginia. Lois joined church at an early age and became a member of Newkirk Chapel in North Carolina until moving her membership to Jerusalem Baptist Church in Jarratt, Virginia, where she continued working in the Sunday School, in missionary and singing in the choir. She became a Deaconess at Jerusalem. At the age of eighty-three, on behest of the family with much prayer and persuasion, Lois moved to Pennsylvania in August of 2000 to live with her niece. She soon united with Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church where she served with the Deaconess and Missionary Ministries. She faithfully attended Sunday School, Bible Study, Vacation Bible School and served wherever requested until her health began to fail. Lois also joined the Steelton Senior Center and kept quite active with her new friends. A gentle, soft-spoken, easygoing natured person, everyone took to Lois’s loving, compassionate ways. She enjoyed sewing, arts and crafts, fishing, gardening, flowers, traveling and was an excellent cook. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, January 10, 2012, Lois was triumphantly received by her Heavenly Father exchanging mortality for immortality. Lois was preceded in death by her parents, Rev. Millard O. and Mrs. Bessie Wilson; three siblings, Mrs. Deretha Williams, Rev. Dr. T. Orestus Wilson and Deacon Moses Wilson Sr.; her husband, John Mason Sr.; and her stepson, John Mason Jr. She leaves to celebrate her life and cherish loving memories her niece/caregiver, Mrs. Patricia A. Tilman; sister-in-law, Mrs. Edith Wilson, both of Harrisburg; host of nieces, nephews, great-, great-great nieces and nephews, cousins, adopted niece, Mrs. Mary Louise Cade; and friend, Mrs. Joanne Overton. Deaconess Lois Mason loved her God and Savior Jesus The Christ, her family and her church family!

Tributes

Eliza Lois Mason

May 19, 1917 - January 12, 2012