Lois May (Jackson) Beard passed away at 3:30 in the morning on January 15, 2021, at the age of 81, the last of her parent’s four children to leave this earth. Lois was born on August 24, 1939, the second-born child to Leonard and Louise Jackson, in Marshall, Minnesota. She was the first of three daughters. When Lois was five, she moved with her family to Trinidad, Colorado. Later on, when she was a teenager, they settled in El Moro, CO on a small ranch. Lois graduated from Trinidad High School in 1957 and then from Trinidad Jr. College with a degree in Business in 1959. As the oldest daughter, Lois was generally in charge of cooking for her siblings and parents who both worked in order to make ends meet. Lois cooked the majority of their meals and did much of the housework.
Lois was always shy and deemed herself an “old maid,” before she met Earl Beard of Gladstone, NM at a dance in Branson, CO. On October 1, 1966, at the ripe old age of twenty-seven, Lois married Earl – a union that lasted fifty-two years. After the wedding, Bub, and Fannie, Earl’s parents, sold Earl and Lois the family ranch at Gladstone. For several years, Lois and Earl scraped by running a few cows and selling eggs to make ends meet.
In the late 1970s, Lois and Earl decided that if they wanted to keep the ranch, they would both need to get jobs, and they applied at the La Mesa Race Track in Raton, NM. After their stint working at the track, Earl got a job working for Colfax County driving a road grader, and Lois got a job as Postmaster of the Gladstone post office. They tirelessly worked at their day-jobs as well as worked to grow a thriving cattle ranch. And by the time they both retired in the late 1990s, Lois and Earl had purchased several additional properties besides the family property, where they ran cattle.
Lois was an artist and crafter. She loved to paint pictures and was a long-time member of the Gladstone Extension Club. Once a month the club met, and Lois was in charge of the games the women played at each meeting. She enjoyed playing Bingo down at the Gladstone Community Building, and she loved helping to organize the annual Halloween party. Lois loved dogs. She always had two or three of them as pets, and she spoiled them rotten. Additionally, she loved to collect dog statues, and she had a wide collection of them.
In 2012, Lois began experiencing the first signs of forgetfulness which got much worse after the passing of her sister, Linda in December of that year. Earl said he told her to, “Hold on,” and she told him she would try, but sadly, he had no choice but to admit her into the Colfax Long-term Care Facility in Springer when it became too risky to leave her at home alone.
Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Earl; her father and mother, Leonard and Louise (Goslar) Jackson; her brother, Lyle Jackson and sister-in-law, Norma; her sisters Linda Jackson; Lorraine Goodyear and brother-in-law, Bill Goodyear; nephews, Lyle Ray Jr. and Leonard Roy Jackson, and niece-in-law, Annette Jackson. She is survived by her nieces, Sherry Goodyear-Romero and James, Kaye Goodyear-Bevins and Tim, and Rhonda Jackson; her nephews, Larry Jackson, and Sarah Lynn, and Kenny Jackson, her guardian, Linda Rogers, as well as numerous great-nieces and nephews, and many cousins and friends.
Lois was a generous, kind, easy-going, intelligent, and responsible woman. She was always friendly and helpful. She enjoyed ranch life including taking care of her chickens, cows, and dogs. She was an incredible cook and brave in the face of great loss. She was a light to all who knew her. She will be greatly missed by all her family and friends.
A graveside service will be held on
Arrangements for Lois May Beard are under the direction of the Alderette-Pomeroy Funeral Home. January 22, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. in the Gladstone Cemetery with Tim Bevins Officiating.
