Lois Cohen

Lois Rae Cohen, 73, passed away at Azura Memory Care in Rib Mountain on Thursday, November 19 from complications of a stroke. She was born Lois Cohodas on March 7, 1947, to Morris and Eunice (Stein) Cohodas. She lived most of her life on Wausau’s southeast side, growing up attending John Marshall Elementary School and Horace Mann Middle School. She graduated in 1966 from Wausau High School.

After graduating High School, she briefly attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with the plan of becoming a librarian. She then moved to Milwaukee and graduated from a business college with a degree in Medical Transcription. She lived in Milwaukee for several years, working as a medical transcriptionist for a Milwaukee hospital.

While visiting her parents in Wausau, she was introduced to the love of her life, Sydney Cohen, by a mutual acquaintance. Sydney had recently moved to Wausau for a teaching job from Duluth, Minnesota. The two were married in 1974 and they soon bought a house on Wausau’s southeast side, six blocks from her parents’, where they have lived ever since. Lois and Syd were married for 46 years until her passing.

In 1976, she gave birth to her only child, a beloved son, David. She enjoyed being a wife and Mother. She spent much of her adult life as a homemaker, but she also spent many years working as a medical transcriptionist for numerous Wausau clinics, including Bone and Joint Clinic and the Urology Clinic.

She had been a lifelong member of Mount Sinai Congregation in Wausau and held a deep, personal spirituality and pride in her Jewish culture. Several years ago, she had a piece published in a book called the Little Shul that Could about her memories of growing up and living in Wausau’s Jewish community for decades.  She was an avid reader and a lover of books. She frequented Wausau’s used paperback stores. She was a fan of romance novels, particularly in the 1980s, and she also enjoyed mysteries. She volunteered at Marathon County Public Library and numerous school libraries where her son attended, such as John Marshall Elementary and Wausau East High School. Also, in her spare time, she enjoyed the hobby of making hooked rugs, which she would often give as gifts to friends and loved ones. A table set up for these projects could often be found in her living room. She loved animals and the family had numerous dogs and cats over the years.

She was known for her quiet, pleasant demeanor and her modest lifestyle. Family was the most important thing to her. She enjoyed a basic life and shunned materialism.

In later years, she suffered from dementia and spent her last fifteen months living at Azura Memory Care under the loving care of the facility’s workers.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Morris and Eunice (Stein) Cohodas. She is survived by her husband Syd and her son, David, both of Wausau, as well as numerous first cousins.

The family would like to thank the staff of Azura Memory Care for the special care they gave Lois in her last year.

Graveside services will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, at the Wausau Hebrew Cemetery, 1600 Grand Avenue, Wausau. Rabbi Benjamin Altshuler will officiate. You may sign our family guestbook at www.helke.com