Lorraine C. West (92) of Louisville
Published on October 5 2018 8:01 am
Virginia Lorraine (Colborn) West, age 92, of Bible Grove passed away Friday, October 5, 2018.
She was born in Elgin, Illinois on January 25th 1926 to Everett and Jenness (Brooks) Colborn. Lorraine was united in marriage to Harold Kenneth West on July 22, 1945. He preceded her in death on March 1, 1985. Lorraine had one son, Daniel K. West, who preceded her in death.
Lorraine was very active in her life; she visited all 50 states, except Alaska. She also visited Canada and Mexico. When she was 15 she helped her father with his fertilizer business by driving a truck. She loved horseback riding as a teen and would often ride standing. She attended school at Bible Grove where she fondly remembers playing on the boys’ basketball team because they didn’t have enough boys to field a team. She graduated from Flora High School in 1944 due to Bible Grove only offering 3 years.
During WWII her parents went to Canada as civilian contractors for the US Government on an Army base. She was instructed to bring her three younger siblings to the base when school was out for the summer. So, at 17 years old, she purchased a door for the old Model A with ration stamps and drove her siblings to Canada. They would stop and sleep in the car for the night at police stations along the way. On one occasion she picked up a hitchhiking GI to help her drive for the day. Also during WWII she worked in the cafeteria of an aircraft manufacturing facility in the Chicago area.
A few years after marriage, Harold moved with Ashland Pipeline Company to Henderson, KY. There they made a home and many friends. She was active in her church there and manager of the Howard Johnson’s restaurant.
In the late 70s Harold and Lorraine rented and ran the “Only Place” restaurant in Bible Grove. This venture was short lived because of the weekly commute that Harold had to take from Henderson, among other factors.
In 1983 Lorraine and Harold moved back to Bible Grove and built their retirement home. Unfortunately, Harold only lived one year in the new home before passing away from heart problems. Not to be deterred, Lorraine continued to be active in the Bible Grove Christian Church where she was a member of the Ladies Aid.
Lorraine leaves to mourn her passing three grandchildren- Bryan (Leslee) West, Adam (Gina) West of Bible Grove and Heather (Andrew) Manche of McKinney Texas. Great-Grandchildren- Cole West, Max West, Lauren West & Blake West all of Bible Grove.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, siblings Aileen, Howard & Richard and her son, Danny.
Funeral services will be conducted at 4:00 pm Sunday, October 7 at Triplett & Neal Funeral Home in Louisville. Interment will follow at Ingraham Cemetery in Ingraham. Visitation will be held from 2:00 until 4:00 pm at the funeral home on Sunday. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Bible Grove Christian Church Building Fund. You are invited to share your memories of Lorraine and leave a condolence by clicking here.