Lorraine Brewer

After a long fulfilling life, Lorraine Farino Brewer, age 81, of Columbus GA passed away peacefully at home on December 28, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. Lorraine was born in Connecticut and settled in Columbus in her mid-twenties.

Lorraine devoted her life to caring for others, both professionally and personally. As a dedicated Registered Nurse, her career was marked by vast knowledge, extensive experience and profound leadership skills which culminated in management as Director of Critical Care at St. Francis Hospital for the majority of her career.

In retirement, Lorraine was very active in the community where she served as President of the board at The Stewart Community Home and was heavily involved at Columbus Museum. Above all, Lorraine cherished her family. She is survived by her beloved husband Dr. Philip Brewer, and her five children: Lori Pierce, Wendy Pierce, Tony Pierce, Root Pierce, Holly Pierce Jordan; son-in-law, Lee Jordan, and her three grandchildren, Joely and Georgie Jordan, and Joey Pierce. She is also survived by two sisters, one brother, numerous nieces and nephews, and three stepdaughters. Lorraine was a beacon of hope whose warmth, strength and encouragement touched everyone that she encountered, and she will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her. A mass of the Christian burial will be held at St. Anne Catholic Church on Monday, January 5, 2026, at 1PM.

On October 15, 1944, Lorraine Farino was born in New England's historic New Haven, Connecticut, now an East Coast melting pot, and notably the home of Yale University and Yale Medical School and its affiliated hospitals. She lived there with her parents, Vilma and Joe Farino, her three younger siblings, Patty Farino DeFrancesca, Jack Farino, and Babs Farino Heffernan and her maternal grandparents, John and Ella Mazzacane, in a house near Little Italy (a term neither she nor her patriotic family ever used). All four grandparents were born near Naples and had emigrated early in the twentieth century seeking a new life in America.

Growing up in New Haven, she attended strict parochial schools, then chose to enroll at Villanova, an excellent Augustinian University near Philadelphia, as a student in their newly-opened nursing school. Tragically, her father died a sudden and unexpected death during her freshman year.

Lorraine made the most of her college years and showed the competency and friendliness that would make her loved and admired throughout the rest of her life. One of Villanova's first female cheerleaders, she applauded her Wildcats at venues such as Philadelphia's Palestra and New York's Madison Square Garden. She joined a sorority, sang in the glee club, worked on the school newspaper and co-edited the year book. She was also a member of a small singing group led by her friend, Jim ("Junkyard Dog") Croce. She graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing, having made many life-long friends.

After graduation, Lorraine, who had worked since she was fourteen, returned to New Haven and found employment at the Yale University Hospital where she rapidly rose to become head nurse of the surgical unit. While on vacation, she met an Oakland A's baseball player from Columbus, married and moved to California. After her husband's early retirement due to injury, they returned to Columbus, where all five of her children were born, Lori, Wendy, Tony, and Joseph, "Root", Pierce and Holly Pierce Jordan.

Lorraine first found time to teach nursing at Columbus State and do private duty nursing, but later, in 1985, as her first marriage ended in divorce, she worked long hours at Saint Francis Hospital, often two consecutive eight hour shifts and night shifts so that she could spend more daylight hours with her children. At Saint Francis, she was naturally attracted to the intensive care unit where the patients are the sickest and the margin of error in treating them is the least. Her organizational ability, attention to detail and willingness to spend whatever time it took "to get it right" soon saw her advance to the Director of Critical Care Nursing. Many of those who worked with her at that time have gone on to leadership positions in nursing, when presented with difficult problems, they pay her the high compliment of asking "What would Lorraine do?"

In 1996, she married Doctor Philip Brewer, who had established the open-heart surgery program in Columbus. They honeymooned in London and the Cotswolds. With her marriage, she made new friends while keeping old friends: Carmen Ramos, Charlotte Carr, Bonnie Franco, Stacey Morley and others from Saint Francis. Among the best of the new were Becky and Sid Yarbrough, perfect traveling companions on trips to China and Ireland. Long a major supporter of the Stewart Community Home, Dr. Yarbrough asked Lorraine to serve a President of the Home's Board in 2001. She agreed and supplied her usual administrative skills, good humor and willingness to work. Her tenure there was celebrated by a night at the Cunningham Center.

With her marriage Lorraine made many of her husband's interests her own. They traveled to New York with members of the Columbus Museum. Dear friends Kay Broda and husband Donald were along. The couple travelled with the Archives of American Art to the larger cities of America to view their museums and the homes of major collectors and also to the cities and towns of Italy including Lorraine's favorite, Venice. Inquisitively, she always kept abreast of what was going on in the world. She was a gifted conversationalist. Lorraine could and would talk to anybody.

Back in Columbus, she found new source of pride and joy, three grandchildren, Joely and Georgie Jordan and Joey Pierce. Each benefited from her sympathy, sound advice and love. Lorraine and her husband made trips to the Florida springs, to house boating on the Saint John's River and, with the children and grandchildren, to swimming with the manatees in Crystal River. They visited Belize, Africa and, again with the children and grandchildren, Yellowstone National Park. New Orleans, a Catholic city with a large Italian population became a favorite destination. The city prided itself of course, in culinary excellence, and Lorraine added to her own considerable expertise and to her enormous collection of cook books. Lorraine and her husband shared these interests in food, art, nature and travel. As daughter Lori said, "They were made for each other."

This idyllic life ended abruptly in October of 2022, when Lorraine was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a treacherous disease rarely discovered in its early stages. Anticancer therapies that extended her life and were expertly administered by Dr. Andrew Pippas of the John B. Amos Cancer Center. She was followed throughout by friend and superb cardiologist, Mahesh Patel. A devout Catholic all her life, she renewed her faith at Saint Anne Church under the guidance of Father Winchel. With the help of faith and her family, including her devoted husband, her sister Babs, and her three daughters Wendy, Lori and Holly and she endured the ravages of this terrible disease and the complications of therapy with courage, equanimity and surprisingly good humor. She died quietly at home on Sunday, December 28, 2025, with her family at her bedside.

A Celebration of Life Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, January 5, 2026, at 1:00 Pm at St. Anne Catholic Church, Columbus, Georgia 31907. A committal will follow at Parkhill Cemetery, 4161 Macon Road, Columbus, Georgia 31907. Family will gather with friends Saturday, January 3, 2025, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at 1251 Wynnton Rd, Columbus, GA 31906.

"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" Luke 23:43