ForeverMissed
Large image
Her Life

Lois's Obituary in Her Own Words

May 12, 2021
by Alyssa Becho
Who was Lois Eberle? Lois Milleson Eberle was the daughter of a gentle father and a loving mother. She was the wife of an honest, considerate husband. And the mother of five beautiful, talented children who were the joy of her being. 


Lois was born at Cyclone, MO, on April 11, 1929. She moved to Pineville at the age of five years and lived there until her marriage to Don Eberle at the age of eighteen. Their happy union lasted for many years. The last several years of her life were spent on a farm near Freeman, MO. 


Lois had three brothers and one sister. Warren Milleson, Virgil Milleson, Jakie Milleson, and Murriel Clemons. She is survived by three of her children, twelve grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. 


Lois was a devoted wife, a so-so mother, and a dedicated teacher. She was a very private person in both religion and politics. A devout Christian and a fervent conservative, but she believed that a person should lead by example, not by rhetoric. She was an eternal optimist that believed she had the best of what life had to offer. She had accepted Christ at the age of thirteen and chose to live by his teachings.


Excerpt from Family History project by Alyssa Eberle Becho

May 12, 2021
by Alyssa Becho
Lois Milleson (1929-2021) was born April 11, 1929 in Cyclone, Missouri to Eldie Clifton “Jake” Milleson (1892-1982) and Jessie Juanita Cook (1898-1949).  She was the fourth of five (surviving) children. Today Cyclone is little more than an intersection of two rural roads, but in her youth it was a small town along the banks of Big Sugar Creek in the Ozark hills. Lois recalls going grocery shopping in the town as a small child. The spot was reportedly a Native American trading post originally, and was named Cyclone after a cyclone destroyed the area in 1880. Lois’s ancestors were among the first settlers of the area: her great-grandfather, Albert Cook, built the first grist mill along the creek and her other great-grandfather, James Cowan is credited with the first store/post office. The area was used for filming the 1939 film, Jesse James.

On her fifth birthday, Lois moved away from Cyclone and into the nearby town of Pineville. That fall, she started first grade at the school in Pineville. Though her brother, Virgil, was a year older, he was also in first grade and they would be in the same class for all of school. (Jessie had tried to send Virgil to school the year before at the one-room school in Cyclone, but after he got into trouble for playing with the big girls’ makeup during recess, the teacher declared him not mature enough for school and sent him home for another year.) Lois also credits Virgil with teaching her to talk- and giving her a speech impediment because she was imitating his incorrect pronunciations.

In 1946, Lois graduated from Pineville High School. She was Senior class President and Virgil was Vice-President. She was also a member of the yearbook staff, had a role in the Senior class play, and played volleyball. After graduation she attended Joplin Junior College for one year before marrying Don Eberle on her eighteenth birthday, April 11, 1947.

After their wedding, Don and Lois moved quite a lot. They lived in Cheyenne Wells, Colorado where they built and ran Don’s Cafe, then returned to Missouri when Lois’s mother was dying. Their oldest daughter, Donna Mari Eberle (1949-1987), was born later that year, in 1949. They then moved to Kit Carson, Colorado, followed by Lubbock, Texas before Don was called to return to the Navy during the Korean War. Lois completed a 60-hour teaching certificate in Lubbock. While Don was serving in the Pacific, Lois lived in Pineville again, and worked in the Draft Office. After the war, Don attended Pittsburg State University and Kansas State University with funding from the GI Bill and graduated in 1957. He then began working as a structural engineer for Black and Veatch in Kansas City. Their oldest son, Dan Ray Eberle (1953- ), was born in 1953 and a second daughter, Debra Kay Eberle (1957-2005), arrived in 1957.

Don’s work for Black and Veatch took them all around the country as they moved from one construction project to the next. They lived in Hill City, Kansas, Stillwell, Kansas, De Soto, Missouri, Polo, Missouri, Russell, Kansas, Soccorro, New Mexico, and Sandwich, Illinois, before finally returning to Belton, Missouri, near Kansas City. They had two more children: Douglas Arthur Eberle (1960- ) in 1960 and Deena Lynn Eberle (1966- ) in 1966. In nearly all of these places Lois worked as a teacher or substitute teacher and frequently took college courses in addition to raising her five kids. In Belton, when the Head Start program began, she was the first director.  The family then went to Thailand in 1967, where they lived in Bangkok for two years. The Eberle family still has friends in Thailand that they met during this time.

After returning from Thailand, Don and Lois lived again in Belton before they bought an 80-acre farm near Freeman, Missouri. After all her various courses, Lois completed her degree in 1974 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She began working at Midway Elementary School, only about two miles from their farm. This farm was a favorite place for family gatherings throughout her grandchildren’s youth. 

The original house was built by moving two older buildings together around 1880, it was added onto multiple times, and Don and Lois remodeled when they moved in. There was a stone wall to the west, which separated the yard from the pasture and in the center of the pasture was a large lake, which Don dug himself. The house was surrounded by many trees and the yard had a large forsythia bush, which was a favorite hide-and-seek spot for the grandchildren. They had peacocks for many years, as well as assorted cows, guinea hens, and other pets. 

They retired in the 1990s and continued to live at the farm. They were involved in various construction projects, including building rental properties in Freeman and developing a small housing development, The Cedars, on the north side of Freeman.