June 12, 2023
Story by Maggie Harris
Courtesy photo provided
The Barton Community College Foundation invites the community to a memorial service to honor longtime donor and friend of the College Lois Alban at 2:30 p.m. June 20 at the Dorothy Morrison Chapel in the Fine Arts Building, with a reception to follow.
Lois and her late husband, Gerald (Jerry), started a decades-long tradition of supporting the Barton Foundation in 1989 when they first attended the Big Benefit Auction and joined the association's Buffalo Club with the top bid for ‘Old Bill,’ the buffalo mount which is auctioned each year. The Albans later began participating in the Academic Enrichment Fund, and in 1993, they established the G.E. and Lois Alban Academic Scholarship to benefit students majoring in business or fine arts.
Lois and Jerry believed people should give back to their community, especially one that nurtures and contributes to individual success. In appreciation of their commitment to Barton, they were awarded the 1999 Distinguished Service Award by the Barton Foundation in recognition of their outstanding service to Barton and its students. Jerry passed away in 1997, but Lois continued to promote academic opportunities for students in the years since and was later honored as a member of the Barton Legacy Society. The Legacy Society recognizes donors who have arranged to make gifts through trusts, wills, or estates at their passing.
Lois, age 97, passed away on April 28 in Springfield, Mo. She was born in Great Bend, where she graduated high school and spent much of her adult life. She will be greatly missed, and the Foundation is honored to help celebrate her life well lived.