Lorraine L. Loriaux Mack

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 11, 2011 in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, with senior pastor Dr Sidney F. Batts officiating. The family will receive friends afterwards in the Virginia Gilmer Room. A private inurnment in the church columbarium will take place prior to the service.

Born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma on April 30th, 1918 to a Belgian immigrant father and a mother whose Pennsylvania Dutch roots trace back to the revolutionary War, Lorraine spent her formative years in the small town of Herington, Kansas. She graduated from the University of Kansas and remained a proud Jay Hawk her entire life. After college, she attended Katherine Gibbs School and then took a position as executive assistant to the President of Seagram’s in Louisville, Kentucky. She took up horseback riding and received her pilot’s license, and she often flew friends and family members to various locations. In keeping with her zest for life, she wanted to fly for the military during World War II, but childhood hearing loss disqualified her. Lorraine’s sister would tell of Lorraine’s annual attendance at the Kentucky Derby sporting the latest fashions in clothes and hats. A blind date in Louisville brought her together with her future husband, Edward J. Mack.

Like many women of her generation, Lorraine settled into the traditional role of homemaker and mother, having four children in five years. At the same time, she was a free thinker and encouraged the same in her children. She and Ed had many lively discussions, particularly on politics. She never got ruffled, and many thought of her as saintly for the way she handled life with a strong-willed husband. She was always devoted to Ed and her family, providing an unshakable support system for everyone. She made breakfast, lunches, and dinner every day and took gourmet cooking classes, with which she instilled her love of cooking – and especially chocolate – in all four children.

Lorraine was an avid reader and always had a book on hand so that she could read whenever she had a few minutes. To help her children become strong readers, she required summer reading of them, in addition to reading during the school year, and she limited television viewing to one program a week, and then only if you made honor roll. She and Ed were both adamant about the importance of education. She provided wisdom, guidance, and support to her children on into adulthood. The long view and the big picture came easy to her, and she could always be counted on for sage advice in a calm manner.

Three activities defined Lorraine’s free time, in addition to reading: volunteering, bridge, and watching college basketball or professional tennis on television. She was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, and she worked in the Sunday nursery for many years. She volunteered at both Cone Hospital and Potter’s House. She was a member of several bridge clubs, playing with friends at every opportunity. While she enjoyed watching tennis, she was a fanatic about college basketball, always rooting for the Duke Blue Devils and the Kansas Jay Hawks. In her later years, her favorite hobby was spoiling the family dogs. She especially loved Boxers, and her skilled care room was filled with toys for and pictures of her “granddog.”

Lorraine will be remembered for her consistent cheerfulness, her even temper, and her patience. She was a joyful person who never complained; she loved jokes and frequently made them at her own expense. She never shied away from the realities of growing older and offered inspiration to each of us on how to approach life’s inevitabilities. She believed that the meaning of life is to live it. Lorraine was a beautiful person, inside and out.

Surviving are her four children – John Edward Mack and his wife Janne Himes Mack of Breckenridge, Colorado, Janice “Smack” Mack of Greensboro, Robin Mack Davis and husband John Scott Davis of Greensboro, and Eric Geofrey Mack of Phoenix, Arizona; one grandson, Tyler Mack Davis; her brother Joseph Grove Loriaux of Manhattan, Kansas; her brother-in-law Side Mitchell Mack and his wife Dolores Koury Mack of Mooresville NC, nieces, nephews and a large extended family.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward John Mack, her parents, Nellie Grove Loriaux and Rudolph Loriaux, her sister Rae Ruth Loriaux Kearns and her husband Charles Kearns, sister-in-law Patricia Loriaux; sister-in-law Madeline Kapha Mack, and sister-in-law Margaret Mack Perry and her husband Albert Perry.

The family wishes to thank the health center staff of Well Spring Retirement Community for the wonderful and competent care given to Lorraine, and to thank the Pastoral Care staff at First Presbyterian Church for the spiritual and emotional support given to her during the years she resided in the health center.

To honor Lorraine’s spirit, and in lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials may be given to First Presbyterian Church, 617 N. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401; or to Well Spring Retirement Community Foundation for the Benevolence Assistance Fund, 4100 Well Spring Drive, Greensboro, NC 29410.

On line condolences may be sent to www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.

On line condolences may be sent to www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.