“I went to see Lois Delgado at Roswell Park Cancer Hospital just before she died of leukemia.  She had married and had a young daughter at the time.  She fought valiantly and underwent experimental treatments, but to no avail.  She was my best friend in school and I still miss her.”  Diana Djivre

Many in the class remember Lois in that way.  Lois was not voted “most popular” because she was good looking or because her family was affluent and had a swimming pool.  As Phoebe Burdick wrote, “What a beautiful person she was, both inside and out.”

Betty Sprague says she does not remember who attended Lois’ sweet 16 party, “ just that she had a hot-dog eating contest and I won - I LOVE hot dogs, especially Nathan's. “

That truth shows in how Fred Feingold remembers her.  Once someone called her a Guinea, and, I corrected him and said, that this was incorrect, Lois was a Spic.  She thought that was wonderful.  Such a nice person. Such a delightful life ahead.” 

Dave Schweers remembers her as honest and tough.  “I really noticed her [Bizzy Morse] was when someone had put a tack on Peter Muttee's seat in class. Dorothy Comfort made a big issue out of it, and we were all surprised when Bizzy and Lois Delgado confessed. Girls weren't supposed to do that kind of thing. I was impressed. I used to ride my bicycle at Lois and Bizzy in an attempt to get their attention.  They used to step aside, grab my handlebars and flip me off the bike.”  In her sophomore or junior year Lois took her turn on the popular rope swing hung from a red oak on the “18 Trails” near Tilley’s beach.  She fell and her back and ribs, after which several friends started calling her “Amazon.”

Pete Marnane (’55) remembers that he “met Lois at the Pavilion one summer in high school and began dating and continued through my freshman year in college.  Lois was one of the liveliest and enthusiastic individuals I ever met.  She always had something good to say about most everyone.  She had a special charm about her that just made you smile each time you saw her.  Her parents were reasonably strict but fair with Lois and her brother Woody and it always seemed that her mother was more relaxed when we double dated with Jay Siegel and his date de jour. That fact spoke volumes about her confidence in Jay but not much for me.  I can clearly remember a photo of Lois on my desk at school during my freshman year.  It was a picture of her in the family swimming pool and it reminded me that first semester that I would be seeing her at Christmas.”  

When Lois would come back to the playground after school, she usually brought with her the loyal family collie Gage.  She also often baby sat for her brother Woody, 6 years younger, who remembers well how “full of life” she was, “Always had a big smile on her face.”  He also remembers she occasionally snuck into house a boyfriend, Porky Johnston being one. Woody (Ralph) was in his first year at Windham College in Vermont when doctors diagnosed Lois’ illness as leukemia, but his parents did not tell him until he came home in May of ’65.  With his parents he drove to Buffalo in June and they were with her, her husband, and their almost two year old daughter Elizabeth when she lost the battle.

Lois majored in history at Wheaton College (then for women only) and played softball and swam on the swimming team.  She also sang with the Wheatones and in the annual college musical, Vodvil.  She married Brown University’s star hockey player Frederick Rodney Dashnaw  in the Methodist Church in Sea Cliff in 1963.  After a honeymoon in Aspen, Colorado, both took teaching positions in Buffalo, NY.