Lois Eileen (Heenan) Movalson, age 86, died peacefully at Evergreen Living Center in St. Ignace, Michigan, on November 16, 2024, only six weeks after her beloved husband, David who died on October 2, 2024. She was born on March 4, 1938, to Dallas and Ella (Jonash) Heenan in the community of Union County, Ohio.
Lois attended Washington High School in Byhalia, Ohio, which was the same school her father attended years before. Lois was popular in school and smart. In the class of 1956 her best friend, Janice Silverthorn, achieved valedictorian and Lois was salutatorian. They remained lifelong friends. She was an active, hard-working student, and a farmer’s daughter tending to the cows and bailing hay in Ohio.
Lois and her parents, along with her brother, Dallas Edwin Heenan, moved to Brevort, Michigan, in July 1955. Shortly after she arrived in Brevort in the summer of 1955, Lois met the tall Swede at the Gulf Sation. After a sweet summer romance, she returned to Ohio to finish her senior year. Lois and Dave continued a long-distance relationship, and on December 1, 1956, they were married at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Brevort and remained living in the small village their entire lives.
After they were married, Lois was the high school secretary as she became a busy housewife. She taught bible school to some of the Brevort children at Trinity Lutheran Church. When David Jr., Tracy, and Eric were older, Lois and Dave operated Chapel Hill Motel, the Gustafson’s Resort where she baked excellent apple pies and her famous “get em in and get em out” breakfast casserole. Lois took pride in having a special bed n’ breakfast in the Movalson ancestral home. During this time, she was on the staff at Gros Gap School as a kindergarten and 1st grade teacher’s aid, she loved the little children’s imaginative stories.
She is survived by her three children, David Movalson, Jr. of Mackinaw City, Michigan, Tracy Movalson of Brevort and Eric Movalson of Bryon, Michigan; two grandchildren, Amanda Movalson of East Lansing, Michigan, and Zachary Movalson of St. Petersburg, Florida; Lois’s devoted brother, Dallas Edwin Heenan of Chicago, Illinois, and her niece, Megan Eicker of Des Plaines, Illinois.
Everyone felt the love and goodness of Lois Movalson’s life in the Brevort community. She will be dearly missed by many.
Lois’s funeral will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brevort on Monday, November 25, 2024. Visitation 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon, funeral service at 12:00 Noon and luncheon afterward. Memorial contributions may be made in Lois’s memory to Trinity Lutheran Church, W4528 Fishermans Drive, Brevort, MI 49760.
Family Life Funeral Homes assisted the family with arrangements. Condolences may be left to the family at www.familylifefh.com.
