Funeral Details

Mrs. Lois S. Kirkey, age 76. On Aug.24 while under hospice care. Long time high school teacher at Senn High School in Chicago.

After long illness, Lois Kirkey died in hospice on August 23. She died peacefully in her sleep and did not suffer. She is survived by her husband David, her children Joseph, Andrew and Steven, her grandchildren Angelina and Annabelle, and many loving friends and relatives. We miss her.

Lois taught Special Education at Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago. I used to visit her class to help her with the school's antique computers and software, and I met her students. Her students loved her. Even students with no intention of learning or doing anything liked her, because they knew she wanted to help them and they knew she was their friend. Even really bad students with extreme behavior problems and criminal records, who should not have been in a Special Education class — even those students respected her when they understood what she was doing, and sometimes they would help by frightening off the really bad students who didn't know her.

I worked in Senn's neighborhood Public Aid office, and I saw Lois's students after they graduated and couldn't make a life for themselves. I would introduce myself and remind them how we met, make sure they were seeing the people they needed to see, and then I gave them a quick lecture on what they had to do at Public Aid, how to apply for SSI at Social Security, and how to get on waiting lists for subsidized housing for the disabled. But in twelve years I remember only three students.

Graveside Service Monday, Aug 28,2023 1:00pm at Rosehill Cemetery 5800 N. Ravenswood, Chicago. Arrangements by Midtown Funeral Home and Cremation Options, 773.654.3744, www.midtownfunerals.com