LORENZ, Roscoe Orrin 1904-1991

LORENZ, BOWEN, SMITH

Posted By: COUNTY COORDINATOR
Date: 10/18/2013 at 23:15:04

Word has been received of the death of Roscoe Orrin Lorenz, 87, of Tempe, Arizona, and formerly of Rockford, Iowa. He died on May 28, 1991, in Temple Arizona.

The Carr-Fenney Mortuary, in Tempe, was in charge of the cremation with burial in Sunland Memorial park in Sun City, Arizona.

Roscoe was born on February 8, 1904, at Rockford, Iowa, the youngest of nine children of William J. and Hattie M. (Bowen) Lorenz. Roscoe grew to manhood in Rockford where he graduated from high school in 1922 and then attended Iowa State Teachers College. He received a Bachelors Degree in Art from the State Univ. of Iowa at Iowa City, and his Masters Degree from the Iowa State Univ. at Ames. He taught at the Prairie Center country school before becoming the Supervisor of Elementary Art at Ames for sixteen years before World War II.

After his tour of military duty, he worked at inspecting aircraft at the Martin Marrietta plant in Omaha, Nebraska, a short time, where he med and married Mary Lincoln Smith on February 22, 1944. He then taught at Tama, Iowa, a very short time, until he accepted a position at Iowa State University as Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering.

In 1958, he studied art in Arizona, with two noted American painters, Hal Empie and a Mr. Staples. In 1959, accompanied by Mrs. Lorenz, Roscoe studied for nine weeks in France, at the Palace of Fountainbleu School of Fine Arts, with the modern abstract artist, Henri Goetz. That fall he exhibited his paintings at the Mason City Public Library. In 1975 he illustrated the book, entitled "Within Adobe Walls," by another former Rockford resident, Helen Baldock Craig.

Roscoe had said that his early inspiration in art came from his mother and an uncle, R. Judson Bowen, whose painting are still to be found in many Central Iowa homes.

At retirement in 1964, the Lorenz's moved to Sun City, Arizona and some time later, to Friendship Village, a retirement complex in Tempe, where they spent the rest of their lives.

He is survived by one brother, Kenneth, at Clinton, Iowa. Other survivors include ten nieces and nephews and numerous great-nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, three sisters, four brothers, and his wife, Mary, who died on April 2, 1989.

Source: NSRR (Nora Springs) - 5 JUN 1991