Dolores Lucille Wollum

Lorrie grew up with two brothers and five sisters on a farm in central Minnesota in a home with no indoor plumbing and no electricity. Trips to school in the winter consisted of climbing into a straw filled sleigh with her brothers and sisters to be delivered to a one room school house several miles away. When a blizzard hit, they stayed overnight at the school, stoking the pot belly stove with wood to stay warm.

In her spare time she would help her mom bake bread and can vegetables, work in the peat bogs for $3 a day weeding onions, and even try to build a bicycle out of wood. She and her brothers and sisters leased a restaurant in Rush City, MN and tried to make a go of it.

Lorrie attended high school in Rush City, MN and then moved to the Twin Cities to work in box, perfume and garment factories. Shortly after WWII Lorrie enlisted in the Army, but had second thoughts and the army never came calling for her.

In 1950, at age 18 she hopped a train west to join her older sister in Yakima WA and landed a job as a telephone operator with Ma Bell

At an Arthur Murray dance studio one Saturday night she and the rest of the women dancers each threw one of their heels into a pile. A young man fresh out of a stint in the Navy during WWII picked out her shoe. They danced, dated, and she was married to Leo Wollum a few years later.

Together they operated a 20 acre fruit orchard in Selah WA for seven years before having to walk off it after experiencing deep frosts that destroyed their crops four out of the seven years.

Lorrie and Leo hunted, fished, camped, restored furniture, co-founded the first Lutheran Church in Selah, and raised one son and two daughters.

She was very artistic and creative. She sewed wedding dresses and the polyester suit her son wore to his high school prom. She loved painting Christmas scenes on windows and mirrors. She made doll clothes, knitted and produced many macramé crafts.

Lorrie loved to bake and was very well known, along with her sister Ethyel Rudick, for cleaning up on prizes for baking at the Central Washington State Fair. She won three golden apple trophies from the Washington Apple Commission.

With her sister, Myrtle, she formed L&M Renovating, purchasing old homes and apartments, fixing them up and renting them out.

After Leo died, Lorrie was bitten by the travel bug and made several tours to Europe and a cruise to the Caribbean. She treated all her grandchildren to a trip with her when they graduated high school.

Lorrie moved to Bakersfield CA to be closer to her grandkids and later to Auburn WA for the same reason. She made quilts, wall hangings and other artistic creations which she sold at Christmas bazaars.

After moving to Auburn Lorrie became a devoted Mariners fan and watched or listened to every game. She delighted in their wins and was disgusted when they lost often calling for the manager, GM or batting and pitching coaches to be fired.

She spent the last year of her life at Blossom Place in Yakima where she decided to write books and self published five of them on Amazon.

Lorrie is survived by son Owen Wollum, of Tacoma; daughters Jennifer (Max) Gardner of Bakersfield, CA and Allison Schnebly of Naches WA, grandsons Ben Gardner, Brad Gardner, and Lars Wollum; granddaughter Mallory (Gavin) Grimes; one great granddaughter Amelia Gardner; two sisters, Marlie Henschel and Myrtle Munns; one brother Albert Ringer, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Leo Wollum, parents George Ringer and Ida Scharnikow, sisters Minnie Pucket, Myrna Larson, Ethyel Rudick and brother Wallace Ringer.

A memorial service will be held at the chapel at Rainier Memorial Center at 11:00 am on Friday, Dec 10, 2021 with a reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers the family requests those who wish to express sympathy to consider making a donation in Lorrie’s name to Cottage in the Meadow, Memorial Foundation, 2701 Tieton Ave, Yakima WA 98902. To leave a memory for the family please visit keithandkeith.com