Lorraine Vivian Mowrey was born on May 27, 1933, in Belle Fourche, SD, to Chauncey Wilkes Mowrey and Lillian Ranghild (Lofgren) Mowrey. She was the fourth of the five Mowrey kids, joining siblings Connie (Cunningham), Viola (Friskey), Conrad Mowrey, and a few years later Linnea (Gottman).

When she was born, Lorraine's family lived in Aladdin WY, but later to around the Black Hills before settling in the Newell/Vale area, where they raised dairy cows. Lorraine often bragged about having to milk cows and haul heavy milk cans every morning before trekking the five miles to school—uphill both ways! Needless to say, she had zero tolerance for whining from her children about doing chores.

She graduated from Newell High School in 1951, serving as president of her senior class, which is probably no surprise to those who knew her. She was a born leader.  Lorraine absolutely loved high school. She especially enjoyed the social aspect, participating in plays and choir, and could play the guitar and harmonica like a champ. She also excelled academically.

Lorraine met her husband, Alfred Weimer, when she was 16 and he was 19. She graduated in early May 1951, celebrated her 18th birthday on May 27th, and tied the knot just a week later on June 3rd, 1951.

They kicked off their life together farming on Alfred's parents' farm near Belle Fourche, SD.  After some bad luck on the farm, they moved their family of three children to Ritzville Washington in order to operate a Tastee Freeze Drive Inn that was in a prime location on a busy highway going right through town. They worked extremely long days but were actually making a few bucks.  A year or so later, they learned that a new interstate highway being built would divert traffic around the town of Ritzville and away from their business.  So, they moved back to South Dakota and decided to try the big city life of Rapid City, where they remained.

Lorraine went to work in 1966 after all four children were in school.  She held a few jobs before landing at the Pennington County Highway Department, where she was working during the tragic 1972 Rapid City Flood.  The County's large, air-conditioned machine shop temporarily served as a morgue for many victims. She often talked about the challenges of helping families identify their loved ones and the heartbreaking stories she heard from survivors of that historic flood.

Lorraine eventually went to work as the manager of the Rapid Valley Water Department, where she stayed until her retirement in 1998. She accomplished many things in her 20-year career and was very proud of her work merging the Water Department with the Sanitation District to form one entity.  Others were working with engineers on new water and sewer projects, working with developers to provide services to new housing projects, locating water and drilling massive wells to accommodate the growth in Rapid Valley, and many other projects too numerous to mention. For many years, Lorraine was the only female manager of a rural water and sanitation district in the State of South Dakota. She attended many state and national meetings, not only learning but  sharing her extensive knowledge and experiences with other rural water and sanitation districts. She loved this job and loved being the boss. She would tell stories of how challenging it was to "hold her own" in such a male-dominated business, but if anyone could do it, Lorraine certainly was the one to take it on.

After retiring, Al and Lorraine enjoyed traveling in their fifth wheel and camping at various spots in the Black Hills.  They owned a home in Arizona for 5 or 6 years where they'd spend winters.  After selling that home, they built a cabin in the Hills at Brush Creek with their son Len and his wife Deb, where they truly enjoyed living and entertaining family and friends.

Lorraine and Alfred had four kids: Leonard (Deb) Weimer, Lona (Brad) Snell, LeRoy (Kim Marie) Weimer, and LaRae (Michael) Schaff. Grandchildren: Stefanie (Shawn) Larson, Jeffrey Snell (deceased) Trevor Weimer, Nicole Weimer, Carissa (Brian) Mitchell, Forrest Weimer, Russell Campbell, Tony (Chrissy) Schaff, Sam Schaff, Rebecca Schaff.  Great Grandchildren: Brady (Jadeyn) Larson, Baylee Larson, Brecken Larson, Maya Snell, Brodie Mitchell, Lennon Weimer.

Great Grandchildren: Brady (Jadeyn) Larson, Baylee Larson, Brecken Larson, Maya Snell, Brodie Mitchell, Lennon Weimer.

Sadly, Mom is preceded in death by her husband Alfred, her son Leonard, and her grandson Jeffrey Snell.

In the last five years, Lorraine faced several health challenges but tackled them with strength and resilience.  She spent her final two and a half years at Peaceful Pines in assisted living, where she received excellent care and was loved by the wonderful staff there. In the last nine months she was also receiving care from Stillwater Hospice of South Dakota.

A service will be held at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home at 1 pm on Monday, December 30th with visitation beginning at 12 noon.  A short graveside service will follow at Pine Lawn Memorial Park.

Memorials can be made to Stillwater Hospice of South Dakota.