Our beautiful "Mother Bear" is gone. She left this life for the next at Heritage Estates in Gering, NE, on May 21, 2008, with her children by her side. Her twenty-year struggle with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis is over. She was one classy lady!
Lois was born May 17, 1928, in Greenfield, Mass. to Everett L. and Marion E. (White) Burney. She graduated from Balboa High School in San Francisco, Calif. in June of 1946 and married William E. McBride on August 22, 1946 in San Francisco, Calif. To this union six children were born. They later divorced.
On February 10, 1978 she married Dr. William L. Mason, Jr. in Miles City, Mont. where they both worked for the VA Hospital; they later transferred and both worked at Ft. Meade, S.D. until they retired. She was a member of United Methodist Women, Past Worthy Matron Matapaha Chapter #68 in Sturgis, S.D., Ladies Naja Shrine Cowboy Unit, Daughters of the Nile, participated in work to support Shriners Childrens Hospital, past president of Sturgis Lions Club, and a member of Red Hat Society. Quilting, reading, genealogy and family reunions were some of the things Lois enjoyed and loved.
Surviving her are her children, Georgia (Wade) Gackle of Billings, Mont., Sharon McBride of Athens, Ala., Ruth (Vince) Tovey of Oxnard, Calif., Ellen Combs (Ted B. Miller III) of Scottsbluff, Marnie (Randy) Smeenk of Athens, Ala., Ed McBride (Lori Newson) of Miles City, Mont.; her sister, Helen Fairies of Klamath Falls, Ore.; her brother, William Lamson of Sunny Valley, Ore.; 15 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her brothers, Henry and Bruce Burney and her husband Dr. William L. Mason, Jr.
The family would like to thank the angels at Heritage Estates, The Village, Home Instead and Prairie Haven Hospice for their tender and loving care of our Mother. We are forever grateful and will keep you in our prayers.
Memorials received will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and can be made to members of the family or Kinkade's Funeral Chapel.