Lois Marie Teston

Lois Marie (Smail) Teston, 84, went home to be with her Lord on Friday, January 24, 2025, after a courageous and gracious battle with Parkinsonism and heart disease. Her daughter, Tracey, was by her side at their home in Eldersburg, Maryland.

On February 21, 1940, Lois was born the youngest of Gladys and Earl Smail’s seven children in Madison, Pennsylvania. She attended a one-room primary school until attending Sewickley High School in Herminie, Pennsylvania. After graduation, she earned a Secretarial degree at Bob Jones University in South Carolina.

After completing her education, Lois joined her sister and brother-in-law, Faye and Jimmy Broy, in College Park Maryland where she worked as a secretary at Litton Industries. Jerry Alan Teston arrived on the scene soon after. They were married in 1963 after many dates at Ledo Pizza in Adelphi and, of course, Faye and Jimmy’s house. Their daughter, Tracey, was born in 1966. They spent most of their 54 years together in Columbia, Maryland. Lois continued her secretarial work at Thunder Hill and Atholton Elementary schools in Columbia, and retired after working 26 years at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel.

Lois provided a loving and safe home for her family. She was a caregiver to three of her elderly family members. She so enjoyed time with her family sharing good meals and playing a card game after. Heading up the PA turnpike to see the Stoughs or down 95 to see the Broys was often on the agenda. The phone lines would be humming making plans for those visits. She also enjoyed time with her Jerry Alan going out to eat, even traveling to other states for barbeque. She and her daughter enjoyed many trips to the Hilton in OCMD, including a few with her sister, Bonnie. She loved to go out and about and would be ready to go in five minutes with her purse, kleenex and jacket (no matter the weather) in hand. She also learned to love cats when her first two of four arrived on her doorstep when her daughter returned home. Lois was the person who was always there 15 minutes early, always prepared and always doing her part. She was so resilient with her health issues in the end. Although she lived until 84, her time here with us was too short.

Her survivors include her daughter, Tracey, and many loving nieces, nephews, friends, neighbors, and Olive. She was predeceased by her loving husband, Jerry Alan Teston; father, Earl Gilbert Smail; mother, Gladys Olive (Altman) Smail; sisters, Faye Gladys (Smail) Broy, Bonnie Lee (Smail) Stough, Patricia A. (Smail) Glenn and Shirley E. (Smail) Messner; brothers, Donald M. and Gilbert H. Smail; and brothers-in-law Jimmy H. Broy and Lyman W. Stough.

Lois Marie/Mums/Gladys, your kindness, diligence, humor and warmth will forever be in our hearts. You were always there for us. Miss you so much.