Obituary: Cummings, Lorraine Lacroix
Age 89
CUMMINGS, Lorraine
LaCroix
(Age 89)
June 5, 1926 -
February 18, 2016
Loving Wife, Mother, Grandmother and
Great-Grandmother
Lorraine was always proud of her family and their accomplishments.
She also enjoyed cooking, dancing, listening to music, her flower garden and arranging and decorating her home.
Lorraine was born June 5, 1926, in Berlin, New Hampshire, to Adolph and Cordelia LaCroix.
She was the sixth of five children, with three sisters and one brother.
She graduated high school from St. Regis Academy in Berlin, NH.
She graduated Hesser Business College in Manchester, NH in 1945.
Later in 1945 Lorraine moved to Maryland outside Washington, DC to live with her older sister Olive Schuler.
She found employment at the U.S. Justice Department working in the FBI building.
It was during this time that she met her first husband and love of her life James R. Cummings.
They were married January 22nd, 1949 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Lorraine and Jim moved to his hometown of Burlington, Iowa to continue their life together and raise their family.
Jim’s ten brothers and sisters welcomed Lorraine into their extended family.
They would have six children together over the next ten years.
Lorraine took pride in her family and home during this time and this would continue for the rest of her life.
They were married for 16 years before Jim’s sudden and tragic death of a heart attack in 1965.
Lorraine continued to raise her six children and found work at the local bank to support them.
In 1970, she moved her family to the Washington, DC area where two of her sisters lived.
She was hired by Computer Science Corporation, working in a clerical position, and obtained a top secret security clearance to work on government projects.
She later worked for RCA where she met Mike Feistman.
They were married December 9, 1974.
She and Mike were very happy for two short years until his untimely death of a heart attack on August 14th, 1976.
After Mike’s death Lorraine returned to work fulltime for the National Association of Grain Growers.
She traveled for this job, planning and running their conferences.
In 1983 she moved to Spokane, WA to be near her oldest son and family, Robert Cummings.
There she worked as an Administrative Assistant at EWU’s Business School.
During the next two decades she traveled east often to visit her children and grandchildren.
She met Pat Coupens in 1993 and on March 19th, 1994 they were married.
Lorraine retired from her job shortly after their marriage.
She and Pat enjoyed traveling and visiting with their families in their retirement.
Lorraine and Pat moved into a cottage at Riverview Retirement’s Village in October of 2010.
On December 19th, 2010 at an age of 94 Pat died after battling with cancer for two years, they had been married for 16 years.
In 2012 Lorraine moved from her cottage to an assisted living apartment in Riverview Retirement’s Terrace.
In December of 2014 she moved in with her youngest son Dan, in his cottage in Riverview’s Village, where she lived until her death.
Lorraine passed away in her sleep, on February 18, 2016.
She will be missed by her surviving six children: Robert Cummings of Spokane, WA; Linda Donelan of Alexandria, VA; Barbara Kimbell of Pittsburgh, PA; William Cummings of Charlottesville, VA; Dan Cummings of Spokane, WA; and Mary Cronk of Lafayette, CO; 16 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren also by Pat’s surviving children, Shannon, Colin and Kathy, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
We will celebrate her life at a memorial Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 1:00 pm in Riverview Retirement’s Community Center in Spokane, WA.
Lorraine will be buried with her first husband in Burlington, Iowa June 25th, 2016.