Funeral services for Lois Gaines, 84, Overbrook, will be at 10 am Friday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Twin Mound Cemetery. Lois died Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015, at Brookside Retirement Community in Overbrook.
She was born Mar. 5, 1931, in Lone Star, the daughter of Elmer Lee and Iva Pearl Hasty Downing. She attended school at Apple Pie and Liberty Memorial High School in Lawrence. Lois was a homemaker and a cattle rancher. She was a member of the Clinton EHU, a 50-year member of Fidelity #38 Order of the Eastern Star, Douglas County 4-H, a founding member of Kansas Taxidermy Association, and Clinton Historical Society. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lawrence, and recently attended Clinton Presbyterian Church. She enjoyed taxidermy, cooking, gardening, sewing, canning, and traveling to all 50 states.
She married Floyd Edwin Gaines on Nov. 18, 1950, in Hoyt, Kan. He preceded her in death, as did her longtime companion after Floyd’s death, Ira Faust, a sister, Arletta Flory, and a brother, Leslie Downing. She is survived by five children, Linda Faust and husband Bernie, Overbrook, Saundra Hiller and husband Paul, Canton, Kan., Diana Skinner and husband Delbert, Lawrence, Jon Gaines and wife Betty, Overbrook, and Tommy Gaines, Overbrook; two brothers, Clifford Downing and wife Verna, Lawrence, and Marlen Downing and wife Carol, Prescott, Ariz.; 11 grandchildren, Julie and Jared Faust, J.R., Ryan, and Justin Hiller, Roslyn Mers, Danielle Skinner, Jeremy and Allen Gaines, Stephanie McNish, and Jessica Hadl; and 18 great grandchildren.
Friends may call from 9 am to 8 pm Thursday at the funeral home, where the family will receive them from 6-8 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Clinton Historical Society, in care of the funeral home, 601 Indiana St., Lawrence, KS, 66044. Online condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com
