Obituary of Lorraine Prociw

Longtime Springfield resident dies. Services will be held at Springfield Memorial Funeral Home, 7305 Main Street on Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 10:00 am for Lorraine Prociw who passed away on February 3, 2013. She was born in Jamestown, North Dakota on November 27th, 1921 to Benjamin Eugene Squires and Ellen Nancy (Miller) Squires. She was the youngest of 12 children. At age 11 months Lorraine’s family moved from North Dakota to Colfax, Washington. In 1925 when she was 4 years old, her family came to Springfield, which at that time consisted only of a few blocks from Mill to 10th Street and from Main to C Street. Everything outside of this boundary was country. There were floods every winter until the dams were built. Lorraine watched Springfield change from bean, hop and hay fields, walnut, filbert, peach and apple orchards and berry patches into freeways, shopping centers and housing developments. Those were the days teenagers would go out and work in the fields and orchards to earn money for school clothes for the coming year. Swimming in the river kept us out of trouble and we had loads of fun. Great times. She attended Springfield schools starting as a first grader the year Brattian School opened in 1927. Lorraine attended middle school at the old Lincoln Jr. High school which stood where the present high school now sits. She was in the last graduating class that graduated from the old high school which is now the administration building in 1939. Lorraine married William Prociw in 1938 in Vancouver, WA. He passed away in 1955 in a logging accident. She worked at Agr-Pac, her sister’s restaurant, several insurance agencies and retired in 1985 from Oregon Medical Laboratory which is now Peace Health Labs. Lorraine loved to travel and upon retiring traveled on three cruises, three trips to Hawaii and visited Graceland and Washington D.C. She also took many short trips with the senior center. Lorraine loved to golf, read, embroider, work in her yard, watch Atlanta Braves baseball games and was a long time Elvis fan. She loved to spend time with family, including her church family of New Life at Wayside of which she was a member of. She was also preceded in death by her parents, eleven siblings, a daughter Nancy Ann, grandson Kevin and numerous nieces and nephews. She is survived by two sons, Dennis Eugene and wife Nancy and William Darrell and wife Lynda; two grandsons, Jeff and wife Leona, and Nick and wife Christina; three step-grandsons, Michael, Ronnie and Cory ; six great-grandchildren and 1 step-great-grandson. In lieu of flowers, please give in memory to New Life at Wayside, Lane County Youth for Christ or to your favorite charity. Arrangements entrusted to Springfield Memorial Funeral Home.