Lois Norwood Craft, 66, passed away on Tuesday February 25, 2014 in Irvine, California, where they currently lived.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 1,1948, she was the daughter of the late Dr. Samuel Wilkens Norwood and Miriam Cary Norwood. Lois attended Scripts College in Claremont, CA, where her major was Applied Arts. Lois and her husband, Jim, divided their time between 3 locations where they have lived for the past 10 years: Irvine, CA., Gainesville, GA., and San Jose, Costa Rica.
For more than 15 years, she was involved in water and energy efficiency. She had her own company that worked nationally with water and energy utilities across the country to increase their customers' use efficiency. Prior to this, she was involved in banking and with the National Education Development Association. Through her company, she supported many community organizations and pioneered a model for their successful training and employment as cost effective alternative new energy and water resources for utilities through increased customer use efficiencies.
In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her sister, Vicki Norwood Nyshay. She is survived by her husband of more than 42 years, James "Jim" Craft of Irvine, CA; sister and brother in law, Beth Norwood Tumlin and William L. Tumlin of Marietta; brother and sister in law, Samuel "Woody" Norwood and Alice Lynch of San Antoino TX and Beaufort, SC.; sister in law, Rev. Dr. Carolyn M. Craft of Farmville, VA, brother in law, Fredrick G. Craft of Germantown, Maryland, and her 11 nieces and nephews, with close ties to many. She also is survived by 2 uncles, 1 aunt, and many cousins.
A Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday March 8, 2014 at Gainesville First United Methodist Church. Dr. Terry Walton will officiate. The family will receive friends at their nearby residence at 2357 Marbleridge Drive, Gainesville, GA after the memorial service.
For those desiring to make a contribution, in lieu of flowers, two of the organizations that meant a lot to Loie were Heifer International and CARE. Heifer is a major international organization that provides animals to communities in poverty, as a starter base for sustainable food production(http://www.heifer.org/). CARE is an international organization that places special focus on working alongside women and girls to empower them as a way to escape poverty and build families (http://www.care.org/).
Those wishing to send online condolences may do so at:
[email protected].
