Excerpts from a Tribute by Mark McDonough, at UAC's Regulus Banquet, July, 2002, where Lois was given the Lifetime Achievement Award:

I met Lois Rodden at the ISAR "Computers and Astrology" conference in July 1996. I was looking to do some astrology research and had heard that she had the largest collection of accurate birth times in the world. So I studied her picture, spotted her in the VIP cocktail party, walked right up to her, and blurted out, "My name is Mark McDonough. I hope to be a significant person in your life." To this day, I have no idea what came over me except perhaps - fate. Lois Rodden has become a very significant person in my life - she has become my mother, mentor, friend and business partner.

Lois and I have been working together on AstroDatabank for six years, but Lois has been collecting data for over 40 years. That's 40 years of combing through stacks of old magazines and musty references, writing mountains of inquiries to birth registries, and contacting confidants and relatives of the famous and infamous the world over. In these 40 years of determined pursuit, Lois collected and documented over 26,000 birth data.

Her high standards for data integrity have changed astrology forever. B.R. (Before Rodden): Charts were published in books and magazines with no source. Speculative charts were placed next to birth certificate charts and no one knew the difference. Some folks might shake their heads in dismay, but Lois shook her fists and started a campaign to change this. She started collecting birth data and filed them away in shoeboxes. She found out which data were reliable and which ones were dirty data cited over and over because no one knew any better. To help sort out the reliable data from the unreliable data, she invented a simple coding scheme.

The Rodden Rating system is now the universal standard for rating the accuracy of birth data according to its source. Lois has been relentless in writing letters to the editors of all the major astrological publications, urging them to tighten their loose data standards. I have never heard a bad word spoken about Lois Rodden -- just admiration for her hard work and dedication to high standards. Lois's dedication to truth and accuracy is so pure that no one ever took offense to her constant corrections. The astrological community, in 1992, awarded her the Regulus Award for Enhancing Astrology's Image. She received the 2002 UAC award for lifetime achievement because it takes a lifetime to collect, check, code and annotate all the birth data now housed in the AstroDatabank CD.

Without her Rodden Rating system, we would still be in the "Garbage in, Garbage out" world of astrology research. She is an international research treasure and her legacy will long outlast her lifetime. I feel quite blessed to have been elected to lead the team that built the software to house Lois's life's work. We as a community are blessed that Lois Rodden's life's passion has given us a cornerstone for rebuilding the respect that astrology so richly deserves.

Donna Cunningham says, "Lois Rodden was one of my few personal heroes because of her integrity and unselfish dedication to our field. She sent me the beautiful photo at the top of this page well over a year ago for this express purpose. I am grateful to have visited her at her home in early April and to see how well-cared for she was how and deeply accepting she was about her upcoming death. When I told her that she had to know she was loved, she said, "Yes, I am getting that picture. Especially after the Lifetime Achievement Award at UAC." And she is loved, deeply.

LOIS'S OWN ASTRODATABANK RECORD

Note: As Lois requested, the following is adaptedfrom the AstroDataBank record which she wrote for herself.

In 1960, a dinner guest gave Lois Rodden a book on Tarot published by the Church of Light. When she moved into Los Angeles in 1961, she found that the Church of Light was three blocks away and classes were available. Within a few months, Tarot fell by the wayside as she discovered the remarkable world of astrology. She sold her first astrology article in February, 1968, and in September, 1968, was invited to become a charter member of Professional Astrologers Inc. At the same time, she was invited to give a series of astrology lectures in San Jose and to teach at the Hollywood Astrological Society. She is convinced that her career as an astrologer began at that time.

Moving to Hollywood in 1973, she built up a clientele of people in the entertainment industry as well as other general fields, always more comfortable with pragmatic counseling than with emotional or psychological dilemmas in the client's charts. In 1976 she wrote a list of transit definitions for one of the first computer companies to sell monthly forecasts. She wrote Sun-signs for the astrology scrolls that sell from vending machines, she wrote annual sun-sign books for the market check stands and wrote astrologically based ad copy.

Editor/publisher of the long-running data journal, DataNews, Rodden also wrote five books of astrological data, the Astro-Data series, and three textbooks, The Mercury Method of Chart Comparison; Modern Transits, and Money, How to Find it With Astrology.

In 1985, she moved to a small California town for a slower pace and less pressured lifestyle in order to focus on more research than clients. Rodden made her first trip to Europe, March 1990. Data collection and research were always her foremost interests. In 1985, Rodden made an agreement with ISAR to put her extensive data collection on computer in order to provide data to astrologers at a reasonable price. The project moved ahead slowly until reaching a full stop somewhere after 1991.

On 7/03/1996, Rodden met Mark McDonough when he expressed an interest in helping with the databank. Out of this meeting, the AstroDatabank was born, with McDonough designing and creating the AstroDatabank program to store and deliver some 30,000 data. Her annual trips to conferences and/ or family were enjoyable breaks from her concentration on data collecting. The astrological community was a valuable part of her life with rewarding friendships and continual intellectual challenge.

BIRTH DATA: According to her own AstroDataBank record, she was born May 22, 1928, in Lang, Canada, 49 N 56; 104 W 23. This is the same day as astrologer and author Marcia Moore. With typical meticulousness, Lois rated her own data as a C, recitified by her according to events as 00:27 MST.

In an email on June 5, 2003,Carole Schneider, Lois' office manager and companion, reported, "Lois passed away this morning at 8:30 PDT, Yucaipa, CA. There will be a party on the 21st of June at her home. This is what she wanted. Music, friends, food, alcoholic beverages and a wonderful time. Please share with anyone that you knew that she held dear. We will always hold her in our hearts."

Memorials L-Z, Continued
To Memorials A-K

CREDITS: This page was created by Donna Cunningham of Word of Mouth Web Design. The photo at the top of the page was given to Donna by Lois herself for this express purpose. Other photos and Mark McDonough's tribute come from AstroDatabank.