Lois Beeby

Lois Beeby was born in 1932. She attended a teacher’s program at a Southern Baptist college and also trained to be a licensed vocational nurse. She became involved with the Daughters of Bilitis in the Bay Area San Francisco chapter and served as an officer, vice president and President of DOB for three years. She was involved in distribution of the Ladder, and developing a number of the social activities in the group, including a book club, softball team, bowling league and pool tournament. As Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were moving the DOB towards becoming a group focused on social action, Beeby wanted to break off and form a separate East Bay chapter that just remained focused on social activities. She felt that many of the members were not as interested in becoming political, but used the group to be part of a social community. After a vote the separate East Bay chapter was denied and she left DOB. She was later involved with several other lesbian groups (NOVA, Peninsula Women’s Group) in a limited capacity.