Lois (Klitzing) Breimeier

March 1927 to February 2025

Lois (Klitzing) Breimeier, age 97, passed away in February 2025 in Port Washington, Wis.

Lois was born in Los Angeles to Hilda (Hohenstein) and George Klitzing. George died shortly after Lois’s birth, and Hilda and Lois returned to Hilda’s hometown, Bloomington, Ill., where they lived with Hilda’s two sisters. Lois’s grandfather and uncle were pastors at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bloomington, and church was a central part of her life from childhood on.

Lois excelled in school at both academics and mischief-making, the latter in cooperation with her cousins Lu and Herb. She attended Valparaiso University, Illinois State University Normal and Rosary College (now Benedictine University) in River Forest, Ill., studying music, French and library science.

She met Kenneth Breimeier while both were on staff at Camp Arcadia in Arcadia, Mich., and they married in 1950, the start of a long relationship filled with love and laughter.

They moved from Chicago to St. Louis in 1956 and raised two children. Upon retirement, they moved full time to a house they had built in the Cottage Colony at Camp Arcadia on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Lois loved classical music, reading and the outdoors. She reveled in the beauty of northwest Michigan and in seeing her grandchildren enjoy the lake, the woods and the camp, and she and Ken were early advocates for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

Lois was thrifty but generous, athletic, competitive, funny and keen to see her left-handedness passed on to the third generation. She often said that she was blessed to live a full and varied life.

Lois is survived by her children Jonathan Breimeier (Cheri Johnson) of Milwaukee and Carol Breimeier (Fred Nelson) of Tucson; grandchildren Hannah (Matt Falvey), Micah and Elijah (Amanda Aalpoel) Johnson-Breimeier of Milwaukee, Peter (Jade) Schwich of Park Ridge, Ill., and Andrew Schwich (Bridget Sloat) of Bainbridge Island, Wash.; and great-grandchildren Rowan Falvey and Lucy and Samuel Schwich.

The family wishes to express their heartfelt thanks to the caregivers and staff of the Harbor Club and Allay Hospice.

A memorial service will be held at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 420 W. Whitefish Rd., Port Washington, Wis., at 11 a.m. Monday, March 24, with lunch to follow. An additional service is being planned for Arcadia, Mich., later in the year.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, 2846 3 Mile Rd. N, Traverse City, MI 49686 (gtrlc.org) or to Interlochen Center for the Arts, P.O. Box 199, Interlochen, MI 49643 (interlochen.org/memorial).