Lois Zanow, tour guide and lecturer, died of an infection at Gilchirst Center in Towson at the age of 89.

The daughter of Dave Miller, a farmer, and Myrtle Ruble Miller, homemaker, she was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Her first six years in elementary school were in a one-room school house as the only student in her class. The rest of her grammar school and high school education was in a rural consolidated school, where she was valedictorian of her senior class.

She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, with a degree in history. While attending the university, she held various jobs there to pay for her tuition. After graduation, she moved with her husband, Markus Zanow, also a University of Minnesota graduate, to Madison, Wisconsin, where he pursued graduate studies. There she worked for seven years in the Indian Language and Area Studies Department of the University of Wisconsin as Program Manager.

Moving to the Chicago area, when her husband took a job there, she wrote a local newspaper column and arranged guided tours of Chicago. She was active in community affairs serving as the president of the local branch of the American Association of University Women, as President of the Clarendon Hills Library board, as President of the Family Service League, and Secretary of the DuPage Community College Caucus. She also volunteered at her children's school.

She moved to Towson with her family in 1983. She worked at the now-closed Baltimore City Life Museums, after which she served as Executive Director of the Maryland Association of History Museums. As a tour guide, she covered Baltimore, Washington, Annapolis, and Philadelphia, among other places. She led tours for a group from Chicago for 12 years to sites from New England to New Orleans.

With co-author Sally Johnston, she wrote "Monuments to Heaven: Baltimore's Historic Houses of Worship". She and Ms. Johnston gave many lectures based on the book.

She and Betty Keller, now deceased, formed a book club in 1984 which was still meeting at the time of her death. In Towson, she was President of the American Association of University Women, a member of the Green Acres Garden Club, of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the 3-Arts Club. Her interests were travel and reading.

She is survived by her husband, Markus of 62 years; her daughter, Paula Bartholomew and her husband Brian Bartholomew of Timonium, Maryland; her son, Yuri Zanow and his partner Amy Tridgell of Brooklyn, New York; and her granddaughter, Audrey Bartholomew, a senior at the University of Maryland - College Park. She was preceded in death by five older brothers.

The family will receive friends at Peaceful Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Center, P.A., 2325 York Road, Timonium, Maryland 21093 on Saturday, November 5 from 3-5 PM. A Memorial Service will be held at Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1316 Park Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21217 at a date and time yet to be determined.