Great Aunt Loraine

My great aunt Lorraine died recently - she'd been dealing with Alzheimer's for a long time. When I was a kid, Fred (my great uncle) and Lorraine were two of the people I remember visiting most often, and two of the relatives I actually always looked forward to visiting (which is certainly not always the case with my relatives - I apologize if you're one of my relatives reading this and feel that statement applies to you, but you probably already suspected it), and though I hadn't seen Loraine in an exceptionally long time, I'll still miss her.

Loraine Georgie Alegra (Hollom) Haase

GLENDIVE - Loraine Georgie Alegra (Hollom) Haase, age 85, of Glendive, passed away on Tuesday, May 17, 2005, in the Glendive Medical Center.

A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, May 20, in the Chapel of the Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home in Glendive. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 21, at the United Methodist Church in Glendive, with Pastor T.C. Chatman officiating. Interment will be in the Dawson Memorial Cemetery in Glendive. Silvernale-Silha Funeral Home of Glendive is entrusted with arrangements.Loraine was born on Aug. 15, 1919 in Elmdale, the daughter of Andrew C. and Alvilda Otelja (Hellicksen) Hollom. She attended Goodwin Elementary School, Brockton High School for two years, Richey High School for one year and graduated from Brockton High School with the class of 1937. Loraine played six girl basketball during high school.

Loraine worked as a stenographer in Sidney until moving to Seattle during World War II, where she was employed by Boeing and later Alpine Dairy. She later returned to Sidney, where she worked as a secretary for Babe Turner Agency. Loraine was known as "Tootsie" when she met Fred Haase and they were united in marriage on Jan. 15, 1947, at the Methodist Church in Sidney. They lived north of Sidney and Loraine taught summer school at Goodwin School until she and her husband moved to Billings. They then moved to Glendive in 1952, where they built their own home and have resided here since.Loraine was a leader of the High Hopes 4-H Club for 20 years. She was a Sunday School teacher, was active in the United Methodist Church and Community Bible Study Group. Loraine loved to sew for her family and friends, enjoyed cooking, baking and decorating wedding cakes and she made great mints. Loraine always like to sign "homemaker" on her tax return.Loraine was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings, Myrtle Edeburn, Evelyn Hollom, Oral A. Hollom, Darvin Hollom and Derema Hollom.

Survivors include her husband, Fred, of Glendive; her sons, Gary Haase and his wife Lynn and their children, Nicholas Haase and Jaclyn Haase of Sherwood, Ore.; Ron Haase and his wife Tammy and their children, Katie Haase and Julia Haase of Sidney; John Haase and his wife Peggy and their children, Brad Haase and Mike Haase of Glendive; her daughter, Susan Atwell and her children, Dawn Kingstad and her husband Clint, Derek Atwell and Justin Atwell of Glendive; her sister, Elsa Banyai of Fairview.Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at: www.silvernale-silhafuneralhome.com.

Published in the Billings Gazette on 5/20/2005.