Lois Jane Benton (Wells) Graham
October 23, 1934 — January 3, 2018
Lois Jane Benton (Wells) Graham, 83, of Morehead City, departed this earth, bound for Heaven on Wednesday, January 3, 2018 at Harborview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center after a long struggle with complications from diabetes and peripheral artery disease. Her final days were spent surrounded by her family and a loving Harborview staff.
Lois was born in Flemington, New Jersey on October 23, 1934 to Theodore Ephraim Benton and Effie Belle Taylor Benton. Her family lived there until she and her older sister, Vivian, moved to Adams Creek, North Carolina where they lived with their grandparents, James Artis and Hattie Elliottt Taylor. At the age of sixteen, Lois met and married her first husband, Eugene “Gene” Wells, a United States Marine from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, who was based at Cherry Point. From 1951 until 1959, Lois and Gene lived in his hometown, she a busy mother and he a mechanic. A job opportunity moved them and their five children to the community of Core Creek, between Beaufort and Havelock. There they added two more children and continued to live until Gene’s death in 1988. Active in her church, Core Creek United Methodist, Lois taught Sunday School, led the MYF, was a member of the WSCS and sang in the choir. She was also a Cub Scout Den Mother and took a turn driving the BES kindergarten bus. She volunteered as a poll sitter and at the surplus food distribution center for Carteret County. With all seven of her children in school, Lois found employment outside the home, working at Maxway in Beaufort and then at Roses, first in Morehead and later in Beaufort. She enjoyed sewing, singing, reading, cooking and square dancing. She was famous for her stuffed creations, especially Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and Teddy bears.
Lois and her older sister, Vivian Dickinson, both widows, joined households for a time, living in the Sea Gate community until Vivian remarried. Living alone, Lois prayed that God would send her “a man who loves the Lord” and she met Donald Graham. Soon after, in April of 1999, they married and moved to his home in Mill Creek. Lois became active in the Graham Memorial Pentecostal Holiness Church. Mill Creek was her home until 2016 when health issues forced Lois to move to Harborview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Morehead City.
In addition to her parents and first husband, Lois was preceded in death by her brothers, A.D., Norman and Ronnie Benton, by her sister, Daisy Benton Philipsheck, and by her son-in-law, Bradley Jay Schaaf.
She is survived by her husband, Donald Lee Graham of Mill Creek, her sister, Vivian Benton Dickinson Becton of Beaufort, her adopted brother, Lonzo O’Neal Taylor of Georgia, and by her sisters-in-law, Ruth Wells Kallas of Noblesville, Indiana and Ginger Benton of Claypool, Arizona. Lois was blessed to live in the same county with all her children and to precede them in death: Larry Wells and wife, Cheryl, June Ann Wells Garner and husband, Donald, Ted Wells and wife, Bee, Vivian Wells, Tammie Wells Schaaf, James Wells and wife, Teresa, Ray O’Neal Wells; and her step-daughter, Donna Graham French and husband, Richard. Lois also leaves 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren as well as her special buddy Cindee Oglesby Lewis and her Harborview roommate, Georgia Dickinson and many beloved friends and extended family.
Heartfelt thanks to Dorothy, Iwana, Gail and Dawn from Harborview and all the other staff who cared for Lois and made her stay bearable.
The Homegoing Celebration of Life for Lois will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at Core Creek United Methodist Church, officiated by Pastor Judy Cline Billings and Pastor Bill Hooper. There will be a visitation two hours prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Core Creek United Methodist Church at 124 Hardesty Loop Road, Newport, NC 28570 Building Fund or the Graham Memorial Pentecostal Holiness Church at 3448 Mill Creek Road, Newport, NC 28570.
Online condolences may be made at www.mundenfuneralhome.net
Arrangements are by Munden Funeral Home and Crematory, Morehead City, NC.