DARR, Lois Kay

The Payson Roundup, Payson, Arizona, Friday, December 19, 2014 Lois “Sorensen-Berkhousen” Kay Darr March 31, 1938 - November 21, 2014 Lois Kay (Sorensen-Berkhousen) Darr passed away gracefully at the age of 76 near her home in Payson, Ariz. on Nov. 21, 2014. She was born March 31, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Okla. to parents, Richard and Ellen Sorensen. Her father was in the armed forces and her mother a registered nurse. At the age of eight, the family moved. She and her brother, Donald, would grow up just outside the small town of Troy, Idaho. Lois was an active member of her community and high school, having fun as a majorette and crowned princess her senior year. On the farm, she grew and sold strawberries to earn money for college tuition. Lois was a graduate of Sacred Heart School of Nursing/Gonzaga University in Spokane Wash. After earning her RN degree in 1959, she moved to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and began as a night charge nurse at the CDA Hospital. She became engaged to Gary Berkhousen, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, and they married Feb. 27, 1960. During her career, she worked off and on between children and life as a traditional military wife. During their station at Kincheloe AFB Michigan, she served under the Civil Service as a lieutenant nurse. Years later, after a 3-year station in New Brunswick, Canada, the family came home to Spokane, Wash. She returned to work as a charge nurse at Deaconess Medical Center, specializing in geriatrics. She retired her career as a director of nurses from Pend Oreille Nursing Home in Newport, Wash. Outside of work, Lois was an excellent seamstress, enjoyed knitting, baking, gardening, crafts, fishing, reading and four-wheel drives in the desert. Her life’s journey also brought forth five children. They all survive her: Tina Jeffrey (husband Jon), Hayden Lake, Idaho; Brenda Berkhousen (husband Darren), Post Falls, Idaho; Douglas Berkhousen (wife Bettie), Newport, Wash.; Holly Miller (husband Jack) and youngest son, Devin Berkhousen. Also surviving are grandchildren, Kara Jeffrey-Fellows, Tesla Weathers-Orr, Seth Orr, Katrina Berkhousen, Nathan Walker, Rachel Miller Lee, Jacob Miller and Whitley Randolph. She will be greatly missed by her great-grandchildren, Maximus Henry Fellows, Aquila Lynne Weathers and Kaiden Randolph. She leaves behind her childhood sweetheart and adoring husband of the past nine years. In October of 2005 she married Alan Darr and immensely enjoyed her life with him in Arizona with so many friends and activities. “We know our beautiful mother will be missed by those she touched. Thank you to all the friends and family who organized her Celebration of Life event. Our family is very grateful. And Mom, thank you for the memories,” writes her family.