Davidson, Loretta (1910-2011)
DAVIDSON, VANALST, KELLEY
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 11/5/2011 at 23:05:33
Loretta Davidson
October 11, 1910 - October 24, 2011Storm Lake, Iowa
Loretta Anne Davidson, age 101, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died Monday, October 24, 2011, at the Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake.
Loretta Anne (VanAlst) Davidson was born on October 11, 1910, to Lambert and Annie (Kelley) VanAlst on her parents’ farm near Altamont, Illinois. She was the first girl after three boys and was named for her mother and her Uncle Owen’s fiancée, LaRetta. In December of 1918, her parents died in the flu epidemic, and Loretta came to Storm Lake to live with her uncle and aunt, Owen and LaRetta Kelley. Even though she and her siblings lived in different locations from that time, they remained close, and she enjoyed the summer vacations that they spent together. Loretta attended St. Mary’s School and graduated from there in 1929.
When she was very young, Loretta started to work at Coulson & Kelley after school and during the summers. She collected the freight bills from businesses every day and often reminisced about the people she met there who had been so kind to her. Loretta began working full-time for Coulson & Kelley after she graduated from school, and she continued in that capacity after the business became Thompson & Laird. She began working for Wisconsin Lumber in 1954 as a bookkeeper and remained there for the next owner, Wisconsin-Storm Lake Lumber. When that business was sold to U.B.C., she continued working for the new owner until retiring in 1978. Loretta, then, returned to part-time work at Thompson & Laird for several years.
On November 27, 1933, Loretta married Carroll Davidson at St. Mary’s Church in Storm Lake. This union was blessed with one daughter, Patricia. Carroll died in 1953.
A member of St. Mary’s Parish, Loretta received great strength from her faith. A member of St. Mary’s Guild, the Legion of Mary, and a past member of the Catholic Daughters of America, she, also, chaired the St. Francis Society for many years.
Survivors include her daughter, Patricia, of Storm Lake, Iowa; her sister-in-law, Beatrice Davidson, of Madison, Wisconsin; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Lambert and Annie VanAlst; her foster parents, Owen and LaRetta Kelley; her husband, Carroll; her three brothers: Henry, Harry, and Eugene; her sisters: Margaret Schurr and Leila, who died in childhood.
Visitation: 4:00-6:30 p.m. with a Rosary at 6:00 p.m., October 25, 2011, at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Mass of Christian Burial: 10:30 a.m., October 26, 2011, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Interment: October 26, 2011, at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Copyright © 2011, Fratzke and Jensen Funeral Home
Fratzke and Jensen Funeral Home
Buena Vista Obituaries maintained by LaVern Velau.
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