Beloved mother & grandmother passed on to the Next Life Thurs Mar 19, at 10:00 am. She was the eldest born to German-Russian minister Rev. Paul Kalmbach and Amelia (Ament) Kalmbach on March 26, 1927, in Odessa, Washington.
They then moved to Hastings, Nebraska, from 1933-37, where she won a blue ribbon at 8 years old for her violin solo. In older childhood (1936-40), she lived in Biola, California, and played in the Fresno Junior Symphony, where she was the youngest member of the orchestra.
The Kalmbach family then moved to Portland in 1941, and she attended Jefferson High School, where she was a member of the Capella Choir and wrote her class song while she was the organist for her father’s church services.
In 1945 she began studies Lewis and Clark College and was invited to join Mu Phi Epsilon, a music sorority. She played many famous composer’s piano solo’s on the local radio station KLC. Her music professor Robert Stoltz submitted the Symphony she composed called „Fantasia“ to Julliard Music Academy in New York where a wealthy benefactress presented her a scholarship. She returned to Portland, however, after completing several terms due to her father‘s illness and being needed at home. She then completed her studies at Lewis and Clark receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree.
She began her school teaching career and in the summer traveled to Europe by ship to visit relatives in Germany. She toured western Europe and was in the first group of western tourists to visit Yugoslavia after WWIi. Her teaching career spanned nearly 40 years.
In 1959 she met and married Wilfred Grenfell Lorenz, the son of one of Portland‘s early contractor’s- Max (and Anne) Lorenz of Lorenz Brothers Builders.
Loretta requested a visit to the Muslim Educational Trust School in March 2016, much to her daughter’s surprise and joy and embraced Islam In front of a congregation of approximately 70 witnesses 18 years after her ex-husband Wilfred did so in 1998. Neither remarried.
She enjoyed needlepoint stitchery, reading, playing the piano, and spending time with her grandchildren.
She died of natural causes on March 19, 2020, at the end of her 92nd year peacefully during sleep in the home of her eldest daughter.
She is survived by her two daughters Aesha R. Lorenz Al-Saeed and Tamara Hampton, as well as son in law Yousef M AlSaeed, grandchildren; Bedriya, Kadeeja, & Jamal Y. Al-Saeed and Patrick Lorenz and Max Randall and great-granddaughters Sophia M. Shehabi and Dahlia Mohammed Shehabi.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.skylinememorialgardens.com for the Lorenz Al-Saeed family.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18