Loretta was born in Burdett Kansas to Henry Seig and Anna Seig (Hewes). Her family moved to Charleston and then Ingalls, Kansas where she grew up and attended school. The dust bowl hit this area hard, so her family moved to Colorado stopping in Pueblo in the mid-1930's. There she met James Victor Gilman and they were married in 1937. At about the same time her sister, Geraldine, married Earl Locke. This was during the depression and times were tough, so the couples shared a rental house for several years. As WWII approached and her brothers became subject to the draft, her parents decided to move to Portland. Loretta and Vic followed along with the rest of the extended family. After they got settled in Portland, Vic worked as an electrician and she went to work at the Kaiser shipyard at Swan Island. Her job was laying out work for the welders. Vic was surprised that she was able to this work so well, as it required climbing all over the ships, and she was afraid of heights. In 1947 their son, David was born, followed by their daughter Vicki in 1953. To have enough room for two children, they bought a house in SE Portland in 1952. This became their long time home and a good place for them to raise two children. David and Vicki both went to Richmond grade school, where Loretta participated in the PTA. She and Vic succeeded in getting both children thru high school, and in giving Dave the opportunity to graduate from college.
After Vic retired they decided they would like to go where it was warm in the winter. Some friends recommended a trailer park in Yuma, so they bought a trailer and went. They enjoyed the winter sun and social activities there for many years. After Vic passed away, she sold the house in 1998 and moved to the Hazelwood retirement apartments. She enjoyed her time there and made many friends. When she was not able to live independently, she moved to an adult care home run by the Kovac's. She received good care there, which eased her final years.
She is survived by her sister Geraldine, daughter Vicki (husband Dan), grandson Bret (wife Megan and great-grandchildren Madison and Emmett), step-grandchildren Bobby and Candy, son David (wife Charlene), grandchildren Patrick and Jennifer (husband Ron).
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