On Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, Lois Dillon, loving mother and matriarch passed away at the age of 97.

Lois Marie Hatton (Dillon) was born on Aug. 26, 1926, in Monte Vista, Colo., to Willis and Genette (Thayer) Hatton. After finishing Monte Vista High School, she attended and graduated from beauty college in Denver. After returning to Monte Vista, she married Gene Dillon on Dec. 26, 1945. Residing in the Center area, then later the Sargent area, they raised four children on their farm.

As a child, Lois enjoyed camping with her family. She loved to sing and in high school she sang

in a girl’s quartet that traveled all around Colorado.

She learned to sew and would use this craft all her life — making quilts, clothes for her daughters and herself, various costumes for extracurricular school and church activities.

Her family attended the First Baptist Church in Monte Vista. She was a member until the church closed, serving in many capacities — teaching Sunday classes, summer bible school, and church bookkeeper.

A stay-at-home wife and mother, she liked to keep busy, so she sat through many swimming, dance, and baton twirling classes served as Boy Scout leader, and volunteered for many of her children’s school functions. She was an active member of Heart and Eagle Club (a Colorado Federated Women’s Club) and belonged to several quilting clubs.

Lois always kept the farm records, but as the children got older, she decided to work outside the home. Among other places, you may have seen her at Cominair Crop Dusting, Center Motor Car Co., or SLV Information Center. After her husband passed away, she bought a home in Crestone Baca area and loved hiking through the Sangre de Cristos. She enjoyed going on cruises and traveling both in the US and abroad with friends and her growing family. She started taking a variety of classes including swimming and flying lessons. Again, she kept busy with volunteer work including helping homeless and abused women throughout the valley. As she matured, Lois enjoyed painting and soon pictures of butterflies, her flowers, and birds that she fed brightened her home.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband Gene Dillon, parents Willis & Genette Hatton, an infant sister Elsie, brother Dale Hatton, and sisters Ruth Wadleigh and Velma Helmick, along with four nephews and one niece.

Survivors include sons Gary Dillon (Patty) of Ft Worth, Texas, and Joe Dillon of Monte Vista, Colo., daughters Judy Dillon Hinton and Kathy Dillon Tonso (Steve) both of Monte Vista. Other family survivors include 10 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren, along with nine nieces, and four nephews and their children.

Cremation was chosen with a celebration of life following at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made St. Jude’s Children Hospital www.stjude.org/donate.

Rogers Family Mortuary is in care of the arrangements. To leave online words of comfort, Tributes and remembrances for Lois’s family, please visit www.RogersFunerals.com.