Lois McClure
Lois McClure, Shelburne, VT, died January 26, 2025.
Lois received an Honorary Degree from Saint Michael’s College in 2008. She established the J. Warren & Lois H. McClure Journalism Scholarship at the College in 2005, and she and her husband were instrumental in establishing the Journalism Department at Saint Michael’s in 1973.
A native of Burlington with strong ties to Lake Champlain and Chittenden County, Lois and her late husband J. Warren (Mac) McClure were proactive supporters of the communities in which they lived first as on-the-ground volunteers and, ultimately, as visionary philanthropists.
Lois captivated others with her unique spark of energy and curiosity. Blessed with education, opportunity, and means, she was down-to-earth, no stranger to hard work or hardship, and was determined always to move forward. She outlived most of her generation and is best known to contemporary Vermonters as the namesake for buildings, scholarships, a replica canal schooner, and for the charitable foundation that she and Mac created in 1995 to continue their legacy of support for Vermonters and for Vermont.
Born April 12, 1926, to David Willard and Marjorie Anderson (Roberts) Howe, Lois was the first of three daughters and the eldest cousin in a large extended family that had managed The Burlington Free Press since 1890. She grew up with an appreciation for the printed word and the beauty of the natural world. From an early age Lois valued independence and prided herself on keeping abreast of new technologies and current events.
Lois attended Burlington schools and Vassar College before her marriage to a fellow Burlingtonian returning from service in World War II. Three daughters were born to Lois and Merton Ricker as he trained and served in the U.S Air Force in Alaska, Texas, California, and Korea. Their first-born, Jean, died suddenly in 1950 when she contracted polio. The couple separated in 1951, and Lois returned to Vermont with Barbara to await the birth of Judy.
In 1954, Lois married Mac McClure, who had come to Vermont to assume a leadership role at The Burlington Free Press. Forging an active life for themselves based in a new home in South Burlington, they blended a family that included Lois’ two daughters, Mac’s two sons living with their mother in California, and James W. McClure, Jr., born to them in 1956. Mac was a tireless promoter of the newspaper and the greater Burlington area and Lois served as a constant sounding-board for his ideas while managing the household, entertaining extended family members and business associates, operating a home-based news service, and volunteering in the community. The couple shouldered tragic times together when nine-year old Judy died in 1961 after extended treatment for kidney cancer. They channeled their grief into community service. Lois volunteered for the American Cancer Society, and, as her father and grandfather before her, served as a hospital trustee.
In 1971, Mac relocated the family to Rochester, NY, to work for Gannett Newspapers as Vice President of Marketing. In her new hometown, Lois continued her volunteer service with the American Cancer Society and availed herself of the opportunity to pursue studies at Nazareth College, graduating in 1975. She remarked often how much she valued this educational experience later in life as it allowed her to integrate lessons learned as a wife, mother, volunteer, and hospital trustee with her coursework and research in sociology. The family returned to Vermont each summer to enjoy their Lake Champlain camp with their long-time neighbors. This seasonal return to Vermont continued when Lois and Mac moved to the Ocean Reef community in Key Largo, FL, in 1975. There Lois chaired the board of the local medical center, co-managed a furniture resale shop, typed Mac’s speeches for his consultancy work and entertained numerous family members and friends, all while competing in tennis matches almost daily. The couple planned several memorable family reunions and traveled extensively. In quieter moments, Lois helped to record their activities in scrapbooks and journals and to write a history of their summer community for its centennial celebration in 1983.
It was in this era that Lois and Mac became recognized as a philanthropic duo, always looking to forge collaborations with others to help “make things happen.” The McClure’s legacy of generous matching gifts began with the expansion of the University of Vermont Library, named for Lois’ father, and with the building of a new wing for what is now the UVM Medical Center. They adhered to a philosophy of giving with “warm hands” and sought to support the needs of the underserved and to preserve the unique history of Vermont and Lake Champlain Basin with both dollars and sustained enthusiasm. Mac and Lois received honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Vermont in 1983 and UVM’s Ira Allen Award in 1988. They took great pleasure in mentoring and inspiring other generous Vermonters.
In 1994-95, the couple established the J. Warren & Lois McClure Foundation as a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation to serve others beyond their own lifetimes and in ways they knew they could not yet envision. Lois assumed presidency of the Foundation from Mac in 2001 and guided the organization as it launched its mission to broaden access to career and post-secondary education for all Vermonters. This work continues in honor of Lois and Mac.
Throughout her life, Lois savored the beauty of the outdoors in Vermont, on skis or snowshoes, as a gardener and birdwatcher, and on regular trips up Mt. Philo. She spent over eight dozen summers enjoying the family camp overlooking Lake Champlain and could often be found sunning by the water, watching children learn to swim, and conversing with neighbors. She enjoyed being on the Lake, too, on excursions aboard the “Ticonderoga,” waterskiing, serving in a regatta as a crewmember for the Lightning sailboat constructed by Mac and friends, on a ferry ride to Essex for supper, or swabbing the decks on the full-size replica of an 1862-class schooner named in her honor. “The Lois McClure,” envisioned by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and crafted on the Burlington waterfront by volunteers, was launched just three months after Mac passed in 2004 from the complications of Alzheimer’s Disease. He and Lois would have celebrated their fiftieth anniversary that December.
Lois turned again to community service to help her move forward. She began by dedicating annual funds to support half-price admission to the Shelburne Museum for Vermonters in honor of Mac’s long-time museum trusteeship and by advocating for eldercare in an effort that ultimately created the UVM’s Center on Aging. Lois was the lead funder for the Bee Tabakin-Lois McClure Hope Lodge that opened in 2008 and for the Homes Forever campaign of the Champlain Housing Trust and was named “Vermonter of the Year” by The Burlington Free Press in 2013. When health concerns began to curtail her activities in 2015, Lois’ final personal philanthropic leadership gift was a collaboration with Bobby and Holly Miller to fund the McClure-Miller Respite House in Colchester, dedicated in 2016.
Over their lifetimes, Lois and J. Warren McClure donated tens of millions of dollars to Vermont-based organizations. They believed strongly in giving while they were alive to help others build better lives. The Foundation they created has contributed over $16 million to Vermont organizations, including over $1,000,000 last year to assist students transitioning from high school to career training and college.
The McClures were founding members of Shelburne’s Wake Robin community and assumed full-time residency there in 2002. Lois served as long-time leader of the Nature Committee and enjoyed full independence until the challenges of macular degeneration and progressive memory impairment prompted her move to the community’s Linden Health Center in 2015. Lois continued to enjoy walks in the garden, scenic drives, and discussions of current events and Burlington history throughout her final decade. She expressed, often and emphatically, how grateful she was to spend this part of her life supported by the outstanding staff of Wake Robin and her family wishes to express their gratitude to all who make up the incredible Wake Robin team.
Lois was predeceased by two daughters, and by her husband of nearly 50 years, J. Warren McClure, who died in 2004. She is survived by a daughter, a son, two stepsons, and by extended family including granddaughter Monica McClure ’15.