Lois Arbanas

BIOGRAPHY

Arbanas was born in Forestville, Michigan, USA, on 1 December 1907, to parents Anton Georg Pomella (1865–1949) and Elizabeth Ann Badgero (1874–1969). She had at least seven siblings: Leo Francis (1894–1946), Agnes Arthurs (born 1897), Freeze Honsinger (1899–1989), Irene Doerr (1904–1998), Magdalene Ryan (1906–2000), Mary Margaret McIntosh (1909–2001), and Harriet Ann (1912–1990). Her father was born in what is now South Tyrol, Italy, and immigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old. Her mother, a native of Canada, was of British descent. She attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse and later resided with a family in a neighboring town to attend high school.

At the age of 17, she moved to the Detroit area and took a job at General Motors. During the market crash of 1929, she held a job and rented a room in a private residence. At a church social event, she met a young attorney named Joseph Arbanas, who eventually became her husband. The couple married in 1934. Right after the reception, the young couple relocated to Washington, D.C., where her husband began working for the federal government. Around 1940, her husband was transferred to Chicago to begin working for HUD as regional counsel. They had two daughters: Anne Feichter and Marybeth Shearron.

In 1955, the family relocated to Wilmette and stayed there until her husband retired in 1968. They then moved to Rancho Bernardo, California. After her husband became ill, they returned to Illinois and settled into a retirement community in Arlington Heights. Her husband passed away in 1992.

Arbanas passed away in Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA, on 26 December 2017, at the age of 110 years, 25 days.