Lois Vandelinder ’56 Wright

Lois Joan (VanDelinder) Wright died Monday, February 1, 2021 after a lengthy battle with dementia. Services are pending. Arrangements and cremation are by Rector Funeral Home Osage Chapel, 2800 S. Osage. Her light will be missed by her family and friends, as she could light up a room with her presence. Born to Melvin and Martha VanDelinder, she lived in Herkimer New York with her four sisters and two brothers, graduating from Herkimer High. She worked for a couple years before attending Hope College in Michigan, where she majored in German and Music, becoming an accomplished and elegant accompanist and artist playing piano. While working summers in Old Forge, New York she met the man she ultimately married, Deryck following graduation from Hope College. A year later they welcomed their only child into their family, and spent the next years traveling a part of Deryck’s work, spending time throughout the US and living for 5 years in Frankfurt West Germany before returning to the states in 1971. A wickedly good player of Spades and Bridge, she enjoyed the arts and family time. She worked during her lifetime as a music teacher, foreign currency trader and was a loving mother and wife. When Deryck Retired, they relocated to Tumwater, Washington where she made a fast and lifelong friend with her tennis partners playing thousand of sets with Deryck and her friends at the Valley Athletic Club. Following Deryck’s death in 2001, She remained in Tumwater with her community until moving to central Texas to be with family in 2011. Since then, she has moved, staying close to and remaining an integral member of the family until her passing. Preceded in death by her parents, sister Carol, Betty, and Martha, as well as her youngest brother Carl, She is survived by her son, Charles (Corinne) Wright, her two grandchildren Elizabeth and her husband Tommy and Michael and his wife Alexandria, and brother Lee and sister Jean.