Obituary of Lorraine Kauffman

Lorraine Kauffman (nee Moeller), 94, of Mokena ,IL and formerly Riverdale, IL passed away in her sleep on Wednesday evening just 7 days short of her 95th birthday. She was born in Chicago on March 22, 1922 to Joseph Moeller and Catherine Moeller (nee Faas) and grew up in the area of 110th and Western in Morgan Park. She was one of the 8 Moeller kids and her 7 brothers and sisters were Elmer, Joe, Bob, Richard, Catherine, Bernice, and Louise who all preceded her in death. She attended Clissold Grammar School and Morgan Park High School, graduating in 1940. Lorraine was a good athlete and an especially avid swimmer, a pursuit she followed well into her 80’s. She worked downtown at the Illinois Central Railroad as a secretary for the timber buyer, Mr. Fletcher, and remained friends with him and his wife long after she left the employ of the railroad. She married a soldier by the name of Raymond A. Kauffman from Blue Island, IL on August 19, 1944 at age 22, at the Morgan Park Methodist Church. Ray and Lorraine started a family in December, 1948 with the birth of their daughter Linda, a retired professor from the University of Wisconsin, now living in Marysville, WA. More children followed: James in 1950, now an attorney in San Francisco; Kendall in 1951, a custom cabinet maker who died from cancer in Colorado Springs, CO in 2002; and Robert in 1956, now a self-employed businessman in Chicago, IL. She stayed home raising children in Riverdale, IL and was active in the Ivanhoe Methodist Church, Ivanhoe Women's Club, Cub Scouts, Little League, and other community groups. She served as Secretary of the Ivanhoe Park District for many years and in 1964 returned to the workforce at South Suburban Community College coordinating the evening education programs at the college and satellite sites. She remained at that employ until retirement in 1987. Lorraine and Ray moved to Mokena in retirement and attended Mokena United Methodist Church. Besides being the mother of 4 children, aunt of more than 60 nieces and nephews, grandmother of 2 (Erik and Elise), great-grandmother of 2 (Escher and Amelia), she was the friend of everyone whom she ever encountered. Lorraine was an indefatigable optimist who genuinely loved people. She gave more than she received in so many ways throughout her life and words cannot really describe her. Nobody ever met anyone like her….. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any gift in her memory be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation to help fight a disease that she spent a great deal of time studying because it afflicted her husband and daughter:http://www.parkinson.org/get-involved/ways-to-give Visitation will be held on Tuesday, March 21, from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Krueger Funeral Home, 13050 South Greenwood Ave,. Blue Island, IL 60406. A Funeral Service will be held at Krueger’s on what would have been her 95th birthday, March 22, at 10:30 a.m. with internment following at Chapel Hill Gardens South, 5501 W. 111th Street, Worth, IL 60482.