Lorraine Alva Stennett

On July 9, 1924, Lorraine Alva Gitz Stennett was born in New Orleans to Louis Alvin Gitz and Mathilda Rose Leininger Gitz, the fourth of their five children. She attended St. Mary of the Angels Elementary School and the Academy of the Holy Angels High School. She completed her bachelor’s degree with a major in history at Loyola University in New Orleans. She was only 18 years old when she finished at Loyola. She told me that when she did her student teaching in a high school, she was teaching some students who were older than she. It was during the World War II, so most of what they covered was current events. Her two brothers, Raymond and Irwin went off to war. Her older sister had entered the convent of the Marianites of the Holy Cross eight years earlier at age 15. She was now one of two girls still living at home. Her baby sister was five years younger. It must have been strange to have gone from a noisy household of five children to one of only two.

She met John Stennett from San Antonio at a USO dance during his leave from the Merchant Marines. Shortly after on another leave, they married. There was only a week to prepare for their wedding on May 28, 1945. Her dad and her sister were their best man and maid of honor. She was a beautiful bride and a beautiful person inside and out.

On February 1, 1947, she gave birth to me, Suzanne Claire. On November 11, 1948, she had my brother John Gilmore, Jr. We loved our mom so much. She had a generous heart, a hospitable nature and a fierce love of her family. She forgave easily and quickly rose above struggles or disappointments. She did have a couple of weaknesses. The woman loved shoes and shopping in general. During WWII it was necessary to obtain a coupon just to buy a pair of shoes. Mom figured she could get more shoes if she talked her father and her uncle into giving their coupons to her, and that’s exactly what happened. When Hurricane Katrina hit, which is why she moved to Dallas to live with us, she lost all of her beautiful clothes and shoes and purses and her coats and sweaters, so she got to shop and shop and shop. A happy, happy woman! Unfortunately she also lost her car, so I had to take her shopping two or three times a week for several weeks. Suzanne doesn’t like shopping.

She liked to play games especially Scrabble. What a shark! She was determined to win and win she did. Every week she and her brother Irwin and her sister, Sr. Genevieve whom we called GG, would get together for Sunday dinner followed by three games of Scrabble. They were all Scrabble sharks. When she moved here, she and I played on Sunday. She continued to play until the last few months of her life.

I learned a lot from her, but not just how to play the game. There is so much to learn from a woman like my mom. She was never idle, doing any work that needed to be done no matter how tired she felt. Once, when she had fallen and fractured her kneecap, she had to wear a brace and use a walker. The very next day I saw that she was folding towels on her bed. I asked how she had gotten the towels out of the dryer and onto the bed. Her response was, “Oh, I just kicked the hamper down the hall with my good leg”. At that time she was 87 years old. When she was forced to move to Dallas because of Hurricane Katrina, she took over the running of my house. She did the laundry, the shopping, the cooking and the ironing. When I finished teaching piano in the evening and my husband came home from work, a wonderful dinner was served.

Mom treasured her children, welcomed and loved their spouses, Lawson and Sandy, fell in love with her grandchildren, Letitia, Claire and Susannah and adored her greatgrandchildren, Preston, Thea and Seth. We all loved her, too.

Mom also loved the arts. She and my dad had season tickets for the symphony and the opera. They also supported the New Orleans International Piano Competition for many years. She loved to attend the theater with us when my husband was the theater critic for the Dallas Morning News.

Mom loved her Catholic faith, and for the last ten years of her life was an active member of Saint Rita Catholic Church in Dallas. She enjoyed playing Bingo with the Seniors, attending Bible studies, making rosaries and serving in the Austin Street Ministry which provides food for people in that homeless shelter.

She was a very classy lady, respected by everyone who knew her, deeply loved by her family and friends. She will be sadly missed, but very happily remembered.

She was the widow of John G. Stennett, Sr., and was predeceased by her sister, Sr. Genevieve Gitz of the Marianites of the Holy Cross and her brothers, Raymond A. Gitz and Irwin Gitz. and is survived by her daughter Suzanne Stennett Taitte and her husband Lawson Taitte of Richardson, TX; her son John G. Stennett, Jr. and his wife Sandra Warfel Stennett of Asheville, NC; and her granddaughters Claire Taitte of Dallas, TX, Susannah Taitte Williams of Nashua, NH and Letitia Taitte-Lynch of Houston, TX. Her great grandchildren are Preston Taitte-Lynch, Dorthea Taitte-Lynch and Seth Taitte Williams. She is also survived by her sister Marynell Gitz Madere; and by many nieces and nephews: Raymond J. Gitz, Theresa Gitz Calamari, Gregory Gitz, Sheralee Gitz Zanovec, Steven Gitz, Suzanne Madere DeLatte, Lester Madere, Ann Madere Friebert, Frances Cleveland Branning and Barbara Shultz Cowart.

She was a strong woman of faith, deeply loved by all who knew her and will be sadly missed by all.

A Rosary will be prayed for the repose of her soul in New Orleans at the All Saints Mausoleum of the Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery, where her remains will be entombed on Friday, May 13, at 11 AM.