Shirley Colton Lotz's Obituary
Shirley Colton Lotz, the wife of the late Lieutenant General Walter E. Lotz Jr. and daughter of the late Major General and Mrs. Roger B. Colton, was born in Fort Monroe, Virginia on February 26, 1922. She departed this life on July 20, 2020 in Leesburg, Virginia.
Shirley lived many years in Washington D.C. during her father’s military assignments and graduated from the National Cathedral School. In 1939 she married Lieutenant Water E. Lotz Jr. (“Junie”) while in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. During the three years her husband served overseas with the 9th Air Force during World War II, she and her children lived with four generations of her family near the National Observatory. During this time, she served as a Red Cross Staff Assistant at Mt. Alto Veterans Hospital. Years later she served in the same capacity at DeWitt Army Hospital at Fort Belvoir.
When her husband was at the Pentagon and while he was in Korea the family made their home in Arlington. Then when he was reassigned to the Pentagon and while he was in Vietnam, the family lived in “Waynewood” near Mount Vernon. She and Junie returned there after he retired in 1974. In 1989, with the family grown and married, they moved to Sun City Center, Florida. After eight years, they returned to Virginia when the Air Force Retirement Center opened Falcons Landing in Potomac Falls. She continued to reside there after Junie’s death in 2000, eventually moving to the Falcons Landing West Falls Center Assisted Living in 2014.
An active Girl Scout as a youth, Shirley continued as an adult serving as Troop Leader, Neighborhood Chairman, Trainer, and a Waterfront and Day Camp Director. She organized Day Care Centers and Preschools at two Army Posts. Her volunteer work with the Red Cross continued wherever the family was stationed. She also served in numerous positions in Army Officers Wives Clubs as well as working with Army Community Services. At Falcons Landing she was a volunteer in the Johnson Nursing Center, served on the Bereavement Committee, sang in the Chapel Choir and the Chorus as well as creating the Sing-Alongs for the Johnson Center and West Falls Center. Her proudest achievement during her years at Falcons Landing was being able to provide furnishings, including the stained-glass window, for the Falcons Landing Chapel at West Falls Center in memory of her husband, LTG Walter E. Lotz Jr.
She is survived by her daughters Shirley Virginia Lotz of Springfield, Virginia and Anne Lotz Heins of Bluffton, South Carolina; son Roger Colton Lotz of Palm Coast, Florida; eleven grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.
Shirley was buried with her husband, Lieutenant General Walter E. Lotz, Jr. and her parents, Major General and Mrs. Roger B. Colton, in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia on July 14, 2022
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