1923-LORRAINE HALBUR-2020
Lorraine F. (Hoffman) Halbur, 96, passed away on Friday, June 5, 2020 at Maple Lawn Nursing Home, Fulda.
Mass of Christian Burial was held at 10:30 am on Tuesday, June 9 at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 2747 29th Street, Slayton, Minnesota, with burial at St. Ann’s Cemetery, Slayton.
Lorraine Frances Hoffman was born July 3, 1923, in Wilmont Township, Nobles County Minnesota, to Martin J. Hoffman and Margaret (Mensen) Hoffman. She was especially close to her parents and her siblings, including older brother Raymond “Ray” Hoffman and younger brother Thomas “Tom” Hoffman. She attended country school district 65 and the St. Kilian Catholic School through the eighth grade.
Lorraine was raised on the family farm, where she helped her family with farm chores and housework. As a young adult, she lived with families in the Wilmont and Worthington, Minnesota area, to help care for their children and households. Before her marriage she was also employed at the Worthmore plant in Worthington.
On a beautiful winter day, January 16, 1946, she married Lawrence B. Halbur at the St. Kilian Catholic Church in St. Kilian, Minnesota. After their wedding, they lived, worked, and farmed together for 48 years on the Halbur Family Farm near Iona, Minnesota, where the couple raised their five children. Lorraine worked hard, raising hundreds of chickens each year, selling eggs, planting a huge garden, preserving the produce, assisting with care of livestock, and other aspects of the farming operation, as well as running an efficient household.
Lorraine was very dedicated to her family, welcoming her children home from school with homemade treats, and regularly hosting her parents for delicious family dinners. After the children were grown, Lorraine loved being a grandmother, regularly babysitting the grandchildren who lived in the county, and writing letters to grandchildren living farther away. Lorraine especially enjoyed attending her grandchildren’s church, school, and community activities. Her greatest joy came from seeing her children, their spouses, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren get a good education and succeed.
Lorraine loved to cook and she was very good at it, a skill she learned at a young age by preparing meals for her family, while her mother assisted with outdoor farm chores. At the request of the Murray County Wheel Herald newspaper in Slayton, Lorraine established the “Family Favorites” recipe column. Beginning May 16, 1989, and continuing until 2013 when even at age 90, she penned a weekly column that featured tempting and easy to prepare recipes that became family favorites for others, too.
Lorraine will be remembered as an outgoing person, always ready to help anyone in need. She was a former long-time member of St. Columba Catholic Church in Iona, Minnesota, where she had been active in the Winona Council of Catholic Women (W.C.C.W.), a Minister of Hospitality, and enjoyed working with various church projects. She cut fabric squares, far too many to count, that were sewn into quilts for the Pope’s Storehouse.
In 1994, Lawrence and Lorraine sold the farm and retired to Slayton, Minnesota. They loved their ranch home near the fairgrounds. They enjoyed visiting with longtime friends in Iona, and meeting new ones in Slayton.
They traveled with chartered bus tours across the United States, enjoyed day trips by car, frequented area restaurants, visited family and friends, and generously shared their time and talents. Lorraine, along with her husband Lawrence, were faithful members of St. Ann’s Catholic Church. They were active community volunteers who served the American Cancer Society, delivered Meals on Wheels to Iona residents, assisted with Slayton Senior Dining, helped at Murray County Historical Museum, supported the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, served lunch at the Slayton Manor Nursing Home, quilted for the Pope’s Storehouse, and supported many other organizations.
In 2010, Lawrence and Lorraine moved to Mapleview Estates Independent Living Facility in Fulda, Minnesota. Lorraine enjoyed playing dominoes, putting together puzzles, playing bingo (and she always won!), and especially visiting with her many dear friends. Lawrence passed away December 28, 2013. Lorraine continued living at Mapleview Estates until June 2018 when, after a fall resulting in a second broken hip, she became a resident of Maple Lawn Nursing Home in Fulda. There her leisure interests included reading, watching the news on television, completing search-a-words, putting together puzzles, and playing bingo. She thoroughly enjoyed visiting with family and friends, and times when her family took her for a car ride, brought special treats, or mailed her letters.
Blessed to have shared in Lorraine’s life are her five children and their families: Charlene (George) Lincoln of Frost, MN; Steve (Lorraine M.) Halbur of Slayton, MN; Margene (Michael) Vortherms of Fulda, MN; Lois Halbur (Mark Katterhagen) of Yankton, SD; and Dave (Sherri) Halbur of Iona, MN. Lorraine treasured her nine grandchildren, six great-grandsons, and two step-great-grandsons including: Sheri (Dan) Gnetz and son Cooper/stepsons Cameron and Carson; Mark (Sarah) Vortherms and their sons Max and August; Travis (April) Halbur and their sons Spencer, Parker, and Tyler; Lee (Aly) Lincoln; Matt Vortherms; Wesley (Loretta) Halbur; Macy Halbur (fiancé Devin Hulstein); Kyle Katterhagen; and Kate Katterhagen.
Lorraine was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brothers, many in-law relatives, and countless dear friends.
In lieu of flowers, especially due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, memorials are preferred to charity organizations of the donor’s choice or to St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Attn: Lorraine F. Halbur Memorial, 2747 29th Street, Slayton, Minnesota 56172.
