Lorain Ethel Buckley

Lorain Buckley died on Monday, December 14, 2015 at Living View’s Summitview Health Care Center. She was born at St. Elizabeth Hospital on March 27, 1921 to Sumner and Della Spencer. She attended McKinley Grade School, Franklin Jr. High and Yakima High School class of 1938. Lorain attended Central Washington College of Education in Ellensburg for one year majoring in Home Economics Education. At Central she was a member of the A Cappella Glee Club.

Lorain graduated from Whitman Business College. There she met her husband-to-be William (Bill) Buckley. Friends from the business college enjoyed good times together. When Lorain graduated from Business College her first position was with the Surplus Marketing Administration, then the Yakima City Water Dept.

Then came Pearl Harbor. Bill and Lorain planned to marry after Easter. Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps on Valentine’s Day 1942 and plans changed. Lorain converted to Catholicism on July 11, 1942 and with her wedding ring on a chain around her neck, she spent five days on a train heading to Tampa, Florida to marry Bill. They were married on July 18, 1942 and remained so for 72 years. “The Tampa Tribune” carried a pictorial page titled “Do the Soldiers Marry Their Home-Town Girls?” that Bill and Lorain were featured. Lorain considered herself fortunate to be able to live with Bill in Tampa and St. Charles, LA, but when Bill was accepted into Aviation Cadets, Lorain returned to Yakima and took a job at Barnes Wooden Department Store. Eventually, they lived in Harlington and San Marcos, Texas, Lincoln, Nebraska and Great Bend, Kansas. Lorain returned to Yakima again waiting for Bill’s return on February 21, 1946. Upon Bill’s return, he joined The Catholic War Veterans and Lorain joined the women’s auxiliary for St. Paul’s Catholic Church.

Bill and Lorain delighted in their three children, Mary, Joseph and John. Lorain served as room mother throughout the children’s elementary and high school years. She worked in the St. Paul’s School Library and served as counselor a year for the eighth grade girls. She earned her 10 year pin as a 4-H Club Leader.

Bill and Lorain enjoyed traveling the world. Their adventures included Central America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Orient, the Middle East, including the Holy Land, Europe and Kenya and all of the United States.

Lorain’s greatest act of love was caring for Bill as he suffered from dementia. When she could not continue caring for him at home, she never missed a day visiting with him at Fieldstone Memory Care.

Lorain is survived by Mary and Dennis Patrick, Joseph and Melissa Buckley and John and Katie Buckley; eight grandchildren: David (Kristie) and Aaron Patrick (Tammy), Anne-Marie Holloway (Andy), Jennifer Pettersen (Scott), Joleen Buckley and Edward Buckley, Christopher Buckley (Abigail) and Susan Buckley (Jerry); four great grandchildren: Laurel and Ann Buckley, Molly Turner, and Lincoln Holloway.

She was predeceased by her husband William Buckley, her father and mother and her brother Walter Spencer.

The family would like to thank Living Care Retirement Community where Bill and Lorain enjoyed the last 10 years of their lives and Summitview Healthcare Center and Heartlinks Hospice who provided loving care to Lorain.

To honor Lorain’s memory, donations may be made to Catholic Charities, Heartlinks Hospice or Living Care Retirement Community.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated for Lorain at St. Paul’s Cathedral Church, 15 So. 12th Ave., on February 13, 2016 at 10 am with burial following at Calvary Cemetery.

To share a memory of Lorain, please visit www.keithandkeith.com