Dates

• Existence: 1918 - 2002

Biography

Lois Jane Crasper Thor was born on April 18, 1918 in Clinton, Iowa, and raised on her family’s farm. She was the daughter of Alva Crasper and Louise Dorothea Bucher. During her childhood she was a part of the 4-H club. In her childhood, Thor made handmade cards and had an abundance of paper dolls. According to the National Women’s History Museum, paper dolls were popular playthings from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Twentieth-century paper dolls’ wardrobes expanded the various potential roles for girls, from college student to movie star to World War II WAC. In this, they reflected an expanded horizon of women’s opportunities that aligned with what women were doing in real life.

Approximately in 1937, Thor entered Iowa State University (ISU). She had worked as a secretary for the Rock Island Arsenal in the Quad Cities while living in Tipton, Iowa until she started college. In 1942, she graduated from ISU with a bachelor’s degree in Textiles and Clothing. After graduation Lois Thor moved near Los Angeles where she worked as a secretary for Douglas Aircraft. There, she met Murner Thor. The two would marry have four sons, one of whom would die in childhood. The Thors settled in Naperville, Illinois in 1963. While raising her children there, Thor volunteered as a 4-H Club leader, Scout troop leader, after-school tutor, and Sunday school teacher. Lois Thor and Murner Thor divorced in the early 1970s.

Thor later moved to the Pebblewood condominiums in Naperville, Illinois and became highly involved in the community there with new hobbies and organizations. She became an environmentalist and a member of the Sierra Club. She volunteered over 300 hours as a Braille typist, translating textbooks. She took up dancing, participating in ballroom dance competitions through Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Naperville and became a member of the Naper Squares, a square-dancing group in Naperville.

In 2000, Thor moved to an assisted living facility. Thor died on March 17, 2002 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease in Brighton Gardens, Wheaton, Illinois.

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