Lois Wintersteen

Lois (Beaver) Wintersteen was born on November 9, 1934 in Warroad MN. She was educated in Minnesota and Texas, and graduated from Luther College in 1956. She received a Master's Degree from Case Western Reserve University, and had a long and outstanding career as a psychiatric social worker. 

Lois was passionate about social justice and was committed to people around the world and the many important causes that served them. She volunteered for years teaching in adult ESL classes through Literacy Minnesota. She assisted in refugee and immigrant resettlement for over 50 years through many organizations. She worked on hunger issues, most often through structures of the ELCA. Working with the Isaiah organization, Lois was often at the capitol advocating for children, working families, better housing and other issues. 

She loved nature and being outdoors. Her "Happy Place" was the family cabin on Kabekona Lake where she first was brought as an infant, vacationed there her whole life, and where she spent every summer after retirement. Family and friends, international travel and concerts and theater performances enriched her life in every way.

Lois is survived by her husband, Richard; children Alan (Julie); Lisa Lauterbach (Dean), David (Carrie) and six grandchildren, Russell Hofstad, Cameron Wintersteen (Maisie), Eleanor Wintersteen, Matthew Wintersteen (Elsa), Linka Wintersteen and Andrew Lauterbach. She was preceded in death by her parents, Rev. Edmund Beaver and Linka Beaver, daughter Sarah and granddaughter Beth Kennedy.

A Celebration of Life service will be conducted on July 18, 2025, at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul. Visitation will be at 1:00 pm with the service to follow at 2:00.

Lois requested that memorials be directed to ELCA World Hunger, Literacy Minnesota, Global Refuge or Kabekona Lake Foundation.