Lois B Stinnett

Lois Evelyn Byrd was born September 20, 1930 in Newport, Arkansas to Rudy Dowell Byrd and Maxie Belle Chaney Byrd. Growing up in this small town she told of rural Arkansas during the Great Depression and World War II. She learned to cook during rationing, allowed to make fudge with her sugar allotment and talked about her pharmacist father losing his job and driving a bread truck. There she rode horses and had a pinto pony she once fell off suffering an arm fracture that left a lifelong scar she was proud of.

Excelling in school, she became the first person in her family to go to college when few went at all. At Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas she also majored in math, rare then for a girl. She met Robert Tim Stinnett there and when she graduated she joined him in Washington D.C where he graduated from George Washington University and they married June 13, 1953. In a big city for the first time Lois landed a job at the National Security Administration (NSA) programming the first IBM computer used for business. Sworn to secrecy she never told anyone what she did there, though asked repeatedly for decades.

Lois left work to raise a family after the birth of her second child but continued to use her math skills by tutoring many neighborhood kids. Because education changed her life she joined PEO, an organization supporting women’s education, remaining a member for over 60 years. She was supportive of kids who needed her help and had a list of kids not her own who called her Mom.

She went back to school and to computer programming work when her kids were in high school and worked for many years at American Software, half of that working on a dedicated line at home when they moved to Virginia Beach decades before WFH was a norm.

She loved her family, her dogs and golf. A special mention goes to Caiti, the Welsh Pembroke corgi who saw her through the death of Bob, the pandemic and her last years. Caiti went first in December 2024 at almost 15, her job complete.

Lois died peacefully at home with her family September 17, 2025 in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Special thanks to Loreice Leslie who was by her side 24 hours a day in her last months and to Park Springs whose members cared about her.

Lois is survived by her son and daughter Bob and Karen, her grandchildren Justine, Kellie and Robert and her great grandchildren Axel and Cayson. Predeceased by her husband Robert and her brothers Richard Byrd and Bill Byrd. She loved her dogs Tracks, Susie, Beau, Mac, Caito and Caiti who lived until into her 94th year.

A memorial service and reception for Lois will be held October 25, 1-3 PM at Park Springs in Stone Mountain, Georgia.