Lois Ketcher

Lois Lenore Bryan Ketcher A Southern Lady By some marvelous mixture of lace and iron, maintaining the properties of each, Mom was in every way a southern lady, a steel magnolia. She had a sense of decorum and knew what ladies did and did not do that was as natural to her as breathing. Its not surprising her iron will and southern spunk allowed her to roll her sleeves up and go to battle over any injustice that crossed her path. She opened her heart, home and pocketbook to anyone who needed help. She was a good, old-fashioned southern cook. Mom belonged to the Old South that confronted the harsh realities of segregation and the powers that enforced it. She came to her beliefs gradually, and like many other Southerners, engaged in an internal struggle to remake herself and her legacy. Mom was extremely bright and well read and had an insatiable appetite for historical facts. Family vacations always included battlefields, historical sites, museums and cemeteries. Mom insisted her children understood their heritage that stretched back to the very beginnings of this nation and beyond through their Cherokee heritage. She loved a good, rousing political debate. Also not surprising, Mom married a full-blood Cherokee, our dad, at a time when it was not common and even considered illegal to marry outside ones race. We are so eternally grateful for this iron will and for marrying Dad, who she always described as the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on. She was born 88 years ago in Lake City, Florida on May 6, 1921 to James Bascoe and Lula Durrance Bryan. She was the oldest of 10 children and her youngest siblings looked to her as a mother. She married James Ketcher September 5, 1944 which was later solemnized in the Mesa Arizona Temple. Lois had varied careers ~ rolling cigars, appraising land, and eventually working for the State of Utah. The family would like to extend thanks for the many years of loving care from Highland Cove and recently to Garden Terrace. Survived by her children: Sheila (David) Fore, Jim (Deidre) Ketcher, Beverly (Chad) Wood, Dennis (Monica) Ketcher, Stephen Ketcher, Stanley (Michelle) Ketcher; stepchildren, Ada and Mary; son in heart, Victor; 27 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; siblings: Olive Hagen, Richard Bryan, Robert Bryan, Jackie Bagby, Joseph Bryan, Linda Archibeque, and Larry Bryan.. Preceded in death by her husband, James; stepson, Henry Ketcher; granddaughter, Ahnie; sister, Francis; brother, J.B.; great-grandson, Noah Ketcher Wood; siblings: Francis Thornton and JB Bryan Jr. Funeral services will be held Thursday, 11:00 a.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road where a viewing will be held, 10-10:45 a.m. Interment, Valley View Memorial Park.