Weeks after celebrating her 110th birthday and earning the rare distinction of becoming an official supercentenarian, an Arlington Heights woman died.
Lois Arbanas, 110, died Dec. 26, just weeks after being treated to a slice of chocolate cake and a glass of cabernet sauvignon during a birthday party Dec. 1 at the Moorings retirement community, where she had lived for the past 25 years.
“I’m so happy that mother was able to have such a great time at her 110th birthday party with everyone there to celebrate,” said Arbanas’ daughter, Anne Feichter.
Although Arbanas had not been ill, she had recently become disinterested in food and had started sleeping throughout much of the day, Feichter said.
At the time of her birthday party in early December, area researchers noted how Arbanas joined an estimated 60 to 75 people who are 110 years old or older in the nation.
When Feichter and other relatives visited Arbanas in her apartment at the Moorings on Christmas Eve, the family matriarch still was able to enjoy the holiday, complimenting her daughters on their clothing and opening her presents, Feichter said.
“She said, ‘I like that jacket,’ and ‘I like that scarf,'” Feichter recalled. “But by the next day, she wasn’t eating or drinking much.”
On Jan. 6, Arbanas’ family and friends gathered to honor a woman whose life story spanned more than a century and seemed to come straight from the pages of a U.S. history textbook.
Born Dec. 1, 1907, when U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt ruled the White House, Arbanas was raised on a farm in rural Michigan during the so-called Progressive era.
One of nine daughters in the family, Arbanas attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse and later boarded with a family in a neighboring town to attend high school.
After moving to Detroit to take a job in the burgeoning auto industry, she met her future husband, Joseph Arbanas, who worked as an attorney.
The couple married in 1935. Joseph Arbanas ultimately died in 1992, shortly before the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary, Feichter said.
Delivering her mother’s eulogy during the recent memorial ceremony, Feichter reflected on how Lois Arbanas raised two daughters in the Chicago area.
“Mom was patient with us, especially me as I was the wilder one. … At 5, I walked three blocks with a 3-year-old friend, crossing Sheridan Road and went wading in Lake Michigan,” Feichter said. “Well, mom got a break with (daughter) Marybeth. She was the good girl and never did the wild things I did.”
Twitter @kcullotta
