Nurse, dance partner, fashionista and volunteer, Lorraine Nuxoll, 91, passed away Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, after a fall.
Lorraine was born in Keuterville on Dec. 7, 1933, the second of seven children born to Alphons and Elnora Sprute Uptmor. After graduating from St. Gertrude’s Academy in 1951, she began her nursing training with the Sisters of St. Gertrude at St. Mary’s Hospital in Cottonwood. The program required six days a week of training, nine hours a day, at just $.35 per hour. Each night, homework was assigned, and passing the state boards was mandatory to earn her nursing diploma. Upon achieving this milestone, her wage nearly tripled to $1 per hour.
Lorraine met Bart on a dance floor in 1951 and they married Jan. 3, 1953, at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Keuterville and then moved to the Nuxoll family farm in Greencreek. She left her nursing job at the birth of her first child in 1954 and spent the next 25 years raising her seven daughters and one son.
To provide more activities for area children, she and Bart bought 140 pairs of skates and provided roller skating in Greencreek for 15 years. The family regularly fished at Winchester Lake where Lorraine kept busy full-time untangling lines, attaching bobbers, hooks and sinkers for the kids. She loved shopping and sewing for her kids, decorated cakes with them, and often loaned jewelry and clothing to them and her granddaughters for their special events. Her family appreciated her clever and practical quips, such as her favorite about dating, “Anyone can behave themselves for three months.”
Lorraine returned to work at St. Mary’s in 1978, and for the next 34 years, worked in surgery and then in the clinic until her retirement at age 79. After retiring from working for the same employer her entire life, she volunteered at St. Mary’s Clinic until the pandemic. Her children and grandchildren called her for medical advice, and she volunteered her nursing care to neighbors; helping a neighbor with cancer stay comfortably in her home until she passed and visiting one elderly couple’s home every day for seven years to help them keep their diabetes in check.
A firm believer in contributing to community, she baked 500 cookies for almost a decade for the Farm Safety Day in Nezperce, delivered meals for the senior nutrition program during the pandemic, cooked at many wedding and funeral dinners, and played Living History characters for St. Gertrude’s Museum. She often transported other seniors to church and community events. One day, a teenager watched the group of 90-year-olds climb out of her car and she overheard him joke to a friend, “Here comes a herd of turtles.” From then on, she affectionately referred to her car as the “Turtle Bus.”
It was only fitting that Lorraine met Bart on a dance floor as dancing remained her favorite activity. They loved dancing in Cottonwood on Saturday nights with a host of friends and for at least 15 years, danced at least once a week at many venues from Stites to Clarkston. After their kids were grown, the couple traveled with family and friends and Lorraine especially loved the Tuesday morning coffee hours and monthly dinners she and her family shared.
After Bart’s death in 2015, Lorraine moved from the farm to a condo in Cottonwood, and continued to travel with family, volunteer, and embrace life. She often joined Mary and John Funke for trips to Lewiston, spending evenings dancing with Roger Price.
Surviving are her eight children: Beth (Tim) Forsmann, Joyce Nuxoll, Kay (Keith) Youngren, Amy (Bob) Tacke, Carla (Jeff) Wilkins, Mellody Gregg, Steve (Judy) Nuxoll and Lynnae (Mark) Iffrig, 16 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Mary (John) Funke and her four brothers, Earl (Arlene) Uptmor, Vern (Crystal) Uptmor, Mark (Lorene) Uptmor and Jack (Theresa) Uptmor.
Bart, her husband of 62 years, preceded her in death, as well as her granddaughter, Whitney Wilkins, son-in-law, Doug Gregg, infant brother, Neil, and a sister-in-law, Kaye Uptmor.
A rosary will be recited at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, with the funeral at 1:30 p.m., at St. Anthony Catholic Church, 1070 Greencreek Road, Greencreek. A reception will follow.
Donations may be made to the Historical Museum At St. Gertrude, 465 Keuterville Road, Cottonwood, ID 83522.
