Lois Schneider Eisaman

Lois Scheider Eisaman died June 28, 2026 at the age of 100. She was born February 23, 1926 in New York City to Emil and Gertrude Schneider. In her Depression childhood her father’s job as an auditor required moving every ten weeks to short-term rentals all over the east coast and southern United States, an experience that fostered Lois’s resilience and adaptability, and prepared her for an adulthood in which she lived in many different places. Lois graduated from the New Jersey College for Women, part of Rutgers University, in 1947 with a major in journalism, and after graduation worked for the Celanese Corporation, helping produce their in-house magazine. In 1954 she married an electrical engineer, Leo Coburn Eisaman, and in the following years gave birth to three daughters. From 1955 to 1966 the family lived in the Rochester, NY suburbs of Webster and Penfield, after which they moved to Westford, MA. While in Westford Lois worked at the J. V. Fletcher Public Library and at an outdoors magazine, the Campfire Chatter. In 1977 Lois and Coby moved back to Webster, and a few years later to the Evergreen neighborhood of San Jose, California, where Lois played the flute in community orchestras, taught English to recent immigrants, and founded a community newsletter, the Evergreen Grapevine. In 1987 she was awarded the Citizen of the Year award by the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce for her work on the Grapevine. In retirement, Lois and Coby enjoyed travelling, splitting their year between their condo in California and another condo in Canandaigua, NY. Eventually they exchanged their California residence for a condo in Brevard, NC, spending winters there and summers in Canandaigua; then as driving became too arduous, remaining all year in Brevard. In 2004 they moved to an independent living unit at the Colonnades Senior Living Center in Charlottesville, VA. After Coburn’s death in 2016, Lois lived first in independent living, then transferred to assisted living, and then, for her last four years, to the “Reminiscence” (memory care) unit. Until her final illness, Lois was a loyal member of Aldersgate Methodist Church on Rio Rd.

Lois is the last of her generation on either side of her family. She was predeceased by her parents, by her husband Coburn, by sisters Ellen Schneider, Alice Loeser, and Ruth Cronemeyer, and by a dear cousin Ruth Whitehead. She is survived by her children and grandchildren, all of whom she fiercely loved: Katharine Eisaman Maus (Lee Wenzler), Gail Eisaman Lansing (Robert Lansing), Trudy Eisaman DeWitte (Daniel DeWitte), seven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

Lois’s family is grateful for the compassionate care provided by the staff of the Colonnades Reminiscence unit, and in her last days, by the staff of Hospice of the Piedmont. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Hospice of the Piedmont or the Alzheimer’s Association.

Services will be private.