Wanda Irene (Finney) Lohr (2022)

BRYANT, FINNEY, JORGENSEN, LOHR, MARSTON, MAY

Posted By: Shirley Keating
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:04:33

Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home
Winterset Chapel
Winterset, Iowa

Wanda Finney Lohr

Wanda Finney Lohr, 97, of Grinnell (formerly of Winterset) passed away on Saturday, January 15, 2022 at the Comfort House in Pella.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 22, 2022 at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home, Winterset Chapel, where family will greet friends one hour prior to the service. A committal service will be held at the Winterset Cemetery Garden of Memories, together with her husband, Earl who passed away on January 7, 2013. In lieu of flowers, Wanda asked that donations be given to a charity of choice or flowers delivered to a person needing a “lift”.

Wanda Irene Finney Lohr was born September 3, 1924, to Gail E. and Laura (Marston) Finney, at the parents’ country home near Pitzer in Madison County. At an early age, she was baptized and confirmed at the United Presbyterian Church at Pitzer, and the church where she married Earl Lohr in 1957.

She was a 1942 graduate of Winterset High School and a graduate of Four C’s Community College in Des Moines. For a year she worked in the personnel office at the Des Moines Sears & Roebuck store and saved enough to finance a year at Grinnell College. The following summer, she worked in the detective bureau of Carson Pierre Scott Department Store in Chicago. With World War II ending, she returned home and accepted a secretarial position with the Webster Law firm (now the Jordan, Oliver, Walters & Smith Law firm) in Winterset, where she worked for more than 40 years and obtained an education on how the laws, justice and taxes concern personal lives.

During her active years, she experienced numerous interesting events. In 1926, she was awarded first prize in the Iowa State Fair Baby Health Contest for the rural district of the state. She especially enjoyed grooming and showing the Belgium horses raised by her father, and as a young girl developed an interest in sports when she accompanied her father to sports events, including the Drake Relays. While being employed at Carson Pierre Scott, she had an encounter with an unsuccessful bank robber. When World War II ended in Europe, she experienced the tremendous joys and celebration by civilians and service personnel on State Street and Michigan Avenue. Serving as secretary for the Iowa State Bar Association Committee on Probate during many months of codifying the Iowa Probate Code and getting it passed by the Iowa Legislature was an education in itself; and she was honored when asked to address the members of the Iowa Bar at an annual meeting.

Surviving her are niece, Julia (Don) Bryant of Winterset; niece, Joleen Jorgensen (Rich May) of Grinnell and her children Jarret Jorgensen of Glen Burnie, MD and Julia Jorgensen of Chippewa Falls, WI; and sister-in-law, Glenna Finney of Winterset.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Earl Lohr of 55 years; her parents, Gail and Laura Finney; and her only sibling, Harlow B. Finney.

Her words: “Throughout my earthly life, I’ve been blessed and most grateful for God’s presence to guide me, and for the love and concern of family and friends.”

Gravesite
 

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