Lois Ann Walls

Lois Ann McGuire Walls, age 87, passed away unexpectedly on April 6, 2024 at Tidal Health Hospital in Salisbury, MD. Although she would have preferred to transition from this life in her favorite nightgown and robe, with a novel in her lap, while sipping a strawberry milkshake and watching hummingbirds, she did receive devoted attention in her final earthly moments from her medically-trained daughter, along with children and grandchildren who are talented singers and whose spiritual beliefs guided Lois to join our Lord, her ancestors, her predeceased husband Edward Lee Walls, Sr (2011) and her beloved family pets (Ruby, Honey, and Lily) to somewhere over the rainbow. Lois’ life was the culmination of being a true Eastern Shore daughter, having been born to Albert McGuire, whose Northern Irish Roots hailed from Maguire’s Bridge, Ireland and Helen Coppage, a Church Hill family traced back nine generations to the first land grant in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland. Lois was able to travel to Ireland with her youngest son and later for a month with her second daughter to visit the lands of her ancestors, dip her toes into Galway Bay, and giggle, until she nearly peed her pants, at the way local taxi cab drivers shouted cuss words with a thick Irish accent. Her childhood back yard was the entire town of Wye Mills, where she and her brother Billy skated on the Mill Pond, had picnics in the massive shade of the Wye Oak Tree, drank from the secret Wye Mill underground spring, and went sledding on car hoods. She loved this tiny town so much that she made sure her own children had plenty of opportunities to experience wholesome activities such as Ms. Dulin’s Sunday School Classes, cashing in glass bottles for candy at Fowler’s store, and winning prizes at the fishing derbies. She graduated from Centreville High School with the closeknit Class of 54’, with whom she treasured friendships for a lifetime and volunteered with their Alumni Association. Her husband of 57 years, Ed Walls, met her in second grade, kissed way better than her other suitor, Leroy Calvin Fishpaw, and then married her on Christmas Day when they both were 18. Lois supplemented her husband’s income over the years with jobs that included telephone operator in Easton, Chesapeake College receptionist/Central Duplicating Clerk, Teacher’s Aid at Kennard School in Centreville, and an assistant upholsterer for her mother’s small furniture covering business in Wye Mills. Lois also found time to serve as volunteer Treasurer for her husband’s “Ed Walls for Sheriff” campaigns, the PTA and as Den Mother for a Centreville Cub Scout Group in the early 1970’s. She was also quick to donate money for all the missing Girl Scout cookies unaccounted for during her daughters’ Girl Scout Troop fundraisers. Her husband was a career military officer and multi-talented “larger than life” bluegrass musician, with both professions requiring the detailed maintenance and tailoring of uniforms by Lois, especially in the later years. Lois traveled aboard the Queen Mary to France in 1955 to meet her then new husband, recently deployed there by the U.S. Army. While on that voyage she tried her first and only cigarette and a mixed drink and hated both. The young couple’s first child, Julia Ann, (Hank) was born in Angouleme, France in 1956. Later, the family traveled to Germany while Ed was stationed there for 3 years in the early 1960’s. Julie’s birth was followed by the birth of four more children, Linda, Eddie, Mike (Sue), and Chris (Karen), all Eastern Shore born up through 1966. Lois loved children and was blessed with 10 grandchildren: Mika (Donnie), Lindsay (David), Nick, Lucas (Michelle), Sammy, Elizabeth, Olivia, Drake, Matilda, who predeceased Lois in 1997, and Claire, along with 4 Great Grandchildren (Roxy, Lachland, Margot, and Freya). After living in Armed Services-related communities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, The Walls Family settled near Centreville in 1968, where Lois remained in the family “ass-state” until September of 2023. Lois was a mom who welcomed all the neighborhood kids to her yard and home, and considered her children’s school age best friends such as Martha, Jean, Mimi, Dorinda, Robbie, Barty, Denny, Jaimie, Jay, Tommy, Alex, and Steve, as bona fide extensions of her offspring, required to follow the same behavior expectations while visiting as her own children. Nieces and Nephews were dear to Lois and often in tow and included Kathy (Ronnie), Billy (Geri), Roy (Amy), Brenda, and Gary. The Ervin and MacGlashan children were also part of the Walls family and Lois would not hesitate to “snap them up” to teach a life lesson if the occasion called for it. She blended her practical child-rearing wisdom with tenderness as evidenced by surprise servings of home-made hot chocolate for all the Centreville kids who showed up to play ice hockey on the neighboring shallow frozen field pond, spending hours on her sewing machine to craft the latest fashions for her daughters, or baking cupcakes with a two-hour notice for homeroom classrooms or her children’s ball teams. Lois loved to cook and enjoyed baking pies to thank local farmers for plowing her driveway after snowstorms. In fact, a competition to be the first to plow often ensued, perhaps to win the coveted Lois Walls apple, custard, or meringue pie. She was also famous for her post-goose hunting breakfast spreads, especially her mouth-watering pancakes, which were served to General Randy House and General “Stormin Norman” Schwarzkopf and many other hungry goose hunters in Lois’ Kitchen. Her grandchildren especially loved her Macaroni & Cheese and her husband would shake uncontrollably in anticipation of her fried chicken. After her children left home to follow their dreams and start their families, Lois’ wanderlust was unleashed. She traveled on adventurous camping trips with her daughters to Florida, New England, Disney World, Epcot, and Nova Scotia. When sleeping in tents and pick up truck campers become too uncomfortable, Lois transitioned to Bed & Breakfast hotels, or cruise ships on trips that included New Orleans, Nashville, College Station, Memphis, the Caribbean, Ireland, the Grand Canyon, Calvert County, Ocean City, Cape May, Canada, Alaska, Western Maryland, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine, and West Virginia. She once visited Graceland, but wasn’t a big Elvis fan, so she only stopped there to use the restroom. Most importantly, in addition to being a mom, Lois was a soldier’s wife. She raised five children alone while her husband was deployed to three tours of Viet Nam, two tours of Korea, and various other assignments. She was a patriot and shared the potential ultimate sacrifice for her country with her husband, without uttering one complaint - out loud. She loved to read fiction best sellers and was a five-decade weekly patron of the Centreville Branch of the Queen Anne’s County Library. In later years she became a loyal PBS fan and enjoyed watching the follicly-UNchallenged men portrayed in Poldark and Downton Abbey (her husband was proudly bald). Lois had three best friends at the time of her passing, Peggy Quimby, Carolyn MacGlashan, Heather Reece, and her beloved friend, Stacy Williamson. She was also predeceased in 1982 by her uplifting dear friend Karlyn Sears Caporin, who operated a sewing supply shop in Centreville. Lois’ family welcomes loved ones to share in the celebration of her life on Saturday, April 13 at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home in Centreville. Visitation will be held from 11:00am – 12:00pm, with a Service at 12:00pm. A time of fellowship will follow at the funeral home. A private internment ceremony next to her husband’s remains at the Veteran’s Cemetery near Hurlock will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that guests consider donating to the Friends of the Queen Anne’s County Library, the Wye Mills Methodist Church, or Friends of the Wye Mill. The family invites family and friends who attend the Celebration of Life to write a short (half page) letter of tribute to Lois, which may be read publicly (time permitting) at the service or by the family after the private burial.

Lois Ann Walls

August 22, 1936 - April 6, 2024