Lorraine Thorson

Lorraine Thorson passed away on January 14, 2019, at Mill Pond Care Center in Ankeny at the age of 99. Funeral services will be held at Hamilton’s near Highland Memory Gardens on Friday, January 18 at 12:00 with burial at Highland Memory Gardens. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service.

Lorraine, daughter of Joe and Sena Larson, was born on October 28, 1919, on their farm south of Kanawha, Iowa. She was one of twelve children, and she went to a one-room school house through the eighth grade. In 1939, she married Lloyd Thorson, her childhood sweetheart, and they had four children. They lived in Kanawha and Goldfield before moving to Ankeny in 1942, where she worked at the Ordnance Plant in Ankeny for a short while. She also worked at Prairie Queen Dairy in Berwick for two years before taking a job at Logli’s Super Valu grocery store in Ankeny in 1955, where she worked for 20 years. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Ankeny for over 70 years. She will be remembered for her hard work, wonderful cooking, beautiful smile, playing the piano by ear, and caring for her family, which meant the world to her.

Lorraine is survived by her sons Larry (Erika) of Houston, TX; Bob (Linda) of Ankeny; Doug (Jean) of Maricopa, AZ; and daughter Lois (Tom) O’Donnell of Ankeny. Also surviving are grandchildren Vally Swann (Houston, TX); Traci Thorson, Penny (Joe) Kubacki and Eric (Sarah) Thorson (Phoenix, AZ); Katie (Brian) Fliehler (Des Moines) and Megan O’Donnell (Hollywood, CA); and step grandchildren Dana and James (Connie) Adreon (Des Moines) and Cindy Bassett (Ankeny) and nine great grandchildren and step great grandchildren. Other survivors are sisters Virginia Logli of Ankeny and Shirley Eichner of Indianola. She is preceded in death by her husband Lloyd and special friend Lloyd Ault, as well as her parents and sisters Harriett Mackey, Anna Mae Kloppen, Viola Suderman, and LaVon Yepsen, and brothers Harley, Marshall, Vernon, Jerome, and Luther.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church in Ankeny or the Ankeny Area Historical Society.

Print