Friends,

I’m writing with the sad news of the passing of Lois Ann Hobbs at the age of 100 on Oct. 2 in Chapel Hill. She called Guilford’s campus home from 1965-80 when her husband, Grimsley Hobbs ’47, served as President. Lois Ann, Grimsley and their six children were the first President’s family to live in Ragsdale House.

While I did not have an opportunity to meet Lois Ann, I understand from those who knew her well that she was a fervent social activist, demonstrating for peace, equality of all people, women’s rights, and anti-racism. In other words, her life’s commitments aligned with those of Guilford’s historic Quaker values.

Lois Ann grew up in New Jersey and moved to North Carolina for college. In a 2021 interview with Chapel Hill Magazine, she describes meeting Grimsley when they were both living in the Chapel Hill area and finding that they had a lot in common. She married into his family of Quakers, embraced Friends’ beliefs, and developed deep friendships. She was well known as a baker and sharer of loaves of whole wheat bread.

Lois Ann was committed to conservation. In 1992, she and Grimsley were honored with the Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit from Preservation North Carolina for the restoration of Baldwin’s Mill near Pittsboro, N.C., which was built in the early 1800s and had been in the Hobbs family since 1941. The restoration returned the historic grist mill to working order.

She was an active member of the Haw River Assembly, a citizens’ nonprofit dedicated to protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake, and she was a supporter of efforts to minimize the impact of growth on the natural and scenic beauty of Chatham County.

Finally, she was an adventurer. In her 50s she participated in an Outward Bound trip, climbing and repelling. She traveled to 45 countries and biked down the Seine River in France and from Munich to Vienna in her 70s.  According to her family, she had a life’s motto of audace, sempre audace (daring, always daring).

Lois Ann was predeceased by her husband, Grimsley, who died in 1990, and her son Ruffin ’75 who died in 2008. Ruffin was a bagpiper at Commencement for many years.

The Hobbs family plans a memorial for Lois Ann Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2 pm at the Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, where she lived. The event will be live-streamed at this link for those who cannot attend in person. 

Please hold Lois Ann’s family and friends in the Light in this time of loss.

Warmly,
Kyle Farmbry
President