Lois May Barron, 91
May 21, 1932-Nov. 13, 2023
Sartell
Lois May (Stewart) Barron, 91, of Sartell, died Nov. 13 at Quiet Oaks Hospice in St. Augusta.
Her funeral will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 25 at First United Methodist Church, 1107 Pinecone Road S., Sartell. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Acacia Cemetery in Clearwater. Arrangements by Miller-Carlin Funeral Homes, St. Cloud.
Barron was born May 21, 1932 in Clearwater, Minn., to Clarance D. “Hap” and Jesse Mabel (Miller) Stewart. After graduating Technical High School, St. Cloud, Barron worked briefly at Thoele Dental Lab and then was hired as secretary to the Dean of Men at St. Cloud State University. It was there she met her future husband John Reid Barron on a blind date arranged by friends; they were married Dec. 18, 1954 in Clearwater. The couple lived in St. Paul where their four children were born; the family moved to Granite Falls in 1965. Barron worked as a secretary for the Congregational Church and a few years later worked as the attendance clerk and secretary for the athletic director at Granite Falls High School. The family moved to St. Cloud in 1974, and Barron returned to SCSU to work as a secretary in the English department, the public relations office and then to the College of Business, where she retired as the secretary to the dean in 1995. In retirement Barron volunteered for several organizations: Meals on Wheels, Central Minnesota Audio Newspapers and Miller-Carlin Funeral Homes. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the St. Cloud Area Fun Singers.
Barron was a compassionate communicator and will be remembered as someone who would always try to be inclusive. She was an avid game-player; she loved Scrabble and completing crosswords. Card-playing was a must at all family gatherings. Her favorites included: multi-taire, canasta, 500 and cribbage; she was known to skunk her opponents often. Barron was a closet poet and a traveler, having visited most of the 50 states and visiting Europe twice – once in 1981 with John to visit their first-born grandchild and in 2019 to Ireland with her three daughters. Lois was loved by many friends and her family. Her presence in our lives will be greatly missed but she will live on in our hearts.
Survivors include the following: her daughters Laura (Lynn) Blue, Prior Lake; Linda (Jon) Barron-Alness, Elgin; and Mary (Roys) Barron-Traut, Sartell; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband in 2016; her son, Paul; and her siblings: sister Helen Marie Baird and brothers Clarance Stewart Jr. and Raymond Stewart.
The Barron family wishes to thank the staff and volunteers of Quiet Oaks and Centracare hospice for their genuine and compassionate care of both Lois and her family during her time there. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the American Cancer Society, First United Methodist Church, Sartell, or a charity of choice.
