Lorraine Jurgensen Obituary
- Amie Cieminski
- Jun 11, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 14, 2022
Lorraine died on March 21, 2020 in Littleton, Colorado. She was born in Creede, Colorado, April 12, 1919 to Ethel (Brown) and George Manning. When she graduated from high school, she received a scholarship from the University of Denver but didn’t accept because she was unsure of her education and ability to compete with city kids. Lorraine took a brave leap and moved on her own to the big city of Denver, went to Emily Griffith Opportunity School, and found work as a secretary for an insurance company.
She raised her family in Littleton, Colorado where she strived and succeeded in providing a “Leave it to Beaver” haven for her family and all the neighborhood children. She emphasized the importance of education and reading. In the late 1950's and 1960's she was active in the founding of the Littleton Human Rights Council. She became interested in healthy eating long before it became popular. She revised all her recipes to make then healthier. She was known for her delicious pies; made with honey and whole wheat flour.
At 45 she enrolled at Metro State University. This was when adults were an uncommon sight in college classrooms. After earning her Associates in Applied Science degree in Counseling, Lorraine went to work at Fort Logan Mental Health Center in the alcoholism division. There she grew professionally and personally while she developed a program about managing grief.
Lorraine was a voracious reader. After retirement she followed a dream and bought a used book store, but found that her customers were primarily romance novel readers, which was not her style. She loved her book club and often shared her thoughts on what they read. Her quest for knowledge was endless and the topics were varied beyond imagination; things and ideas that she loved and wanted to learn and things that she disliked and wanted ammunition to support her opinions. Lorraine was interested and knowledgeable about politics, last voting in the Denver election in 2019. She clipped newspaper articles when they reminded her of family or friends’ interests or beliefs and distributed them generously to those she loved.
She was a fierce and unapologetic feminist and a defender of all persons and groups’ civil rights. She was outspoken against racists and racist speech and would not allow it in her presence. She taught her children that prejudice toward anyone was unacceptable.
She stayed interested and sharp, reading the Denver Post every day and doing the New York Times crossword puzzles. She died peacefully in her sleep. Her family will miss her love of holidays and birthdays, her great pies, her insightful comments and thoughts, her wisdom, her interesting conversations and her love. In her 100 years she gained courage and independence as she embraced a century of incredible changes, innovations and world-changing events.
Lorraine is survived by children Jay Jurgensen (LaDonna), Richard Jurgensen (Joanie Komatsu) and Lorin Jurgensen (Eric Moffitt). She was grandmother to Amie Cieminski (RJ), Keli Shapiro (Steve), Geoff Jurgensen (Yolanda), Matthew Jurgensen, Kale Sandridge (Camie), Maile Sandridge (Luke O’Reilly) and Gramma Gramma to Mitchell and Courtney Cieminski, Jacob and Sidney Shapiro, Marie and Allyssa Jurgensen and Zoey Sandridge. She was preceded in death by daughter Janene Jurgensen.
She was a role model to her nieces, nephews and others who watched her work to learn to become the person she wanted to be.
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