Lois R. Arthur, 87, of Colonial Drive, Ipswich, died Sunday, September 1, 2018 in the Kaplan Family Hospice House following her long illness.

Born in Beverly June 2, 1931 she was the daughter of the late Harold J. and Emma (Rix) Arthur. She was very precocious even at a young age when they discovered she had an unusually high IQ and set the stage for her doing anything she set her mind to do.  She graduated from Beverly High School at the top of her class, won a scholarship to Wheaton College and attended for a year, but decided she wanted to do something different and went to Albion College in Albion, MI where she graduated Valedictorian and became a Phi Beta Kappa Key winner in 1953.  She then enrolled in University of Iowa to work on her Masters in Languages and got a Masters in French and Spanish in 1955.  She married Joseph D. Ives in 1955 and went on to teach at Concordia College, and a private School in St. Paul, MN in 1957 to 1958.  She left to have her only child, a daughter she named Katherine Ann Ives.  She went back to Summit School to teach until 1965 when she moved to Radford, VA and taught at the College there for one year before relocating to Macomb, IL to teach at Western Illinois University from 1967 to 1974.  She taught French and Spanish and English to the Japanese students.  She also worked on her PHD in French, but finished one credit short when she didn't earn tenure at the University.  In 1976 she went back to school to become a nurse, graduating Valedictorian again at the Carl Sandberg College and then started her nursing career at McDonough Hospital. After her divorce from her husband she opted to move closer to her daughter and brother on the North Shore of Massachusetts. She was employed at Salem Hospital as a Neurology nurse from 1988 to 2006, when she retired.  

Lois Arthur was a unique woman who worked tirelessly in Macomb for WOW (Western Organization of Women), she supported Women's rights to be equal and to be paid equally.  She was a secretary of the chapter and kept their finances for many years.  Her other interests were animal rights, volunteering for the ASPCA and local shelters, and volunteered in Ipswich for the Senior Center and the Historical Society.  She also ran a very successful book club.  

Although she was as a whole not very religious, she identified herself with the Unitarian Church and was a member since 1968.  

She was survived by her daughter, Katherine A. Ives of Fayette, ME, her former husband, Joseph D. Ives of Monmouth, IL her brother, Ronald Arthur of Wenham, two nephews, David Arthur of Manchester and Timothy Arthur of Haverhill, and a niece, Laurie A. LaVallee of Merrimac.

Private funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Whittier-Porter Funeral Home of Ipswich. If you would like to remember Lois, please make a donation to ASPCA in her name at your local chapter, this organization was very dear to her heart.

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