Lorraine Gaard was born April 16, 1918, at the Clausen family farm near Kiester. Lorraine was the youngest child of Carl Peter and Marie (Bendickson) Clausen. She had eight older sisters and three older brothers. Lorraine was baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church in Vinge, Iowa, by the Rev. Fjelstad and confirmed at Lutheran Church in Kiester by The Rev. J.A. Arneson. Lorraine’s education began in the rural one-room school near the farm, continued at Kiester High School where she graduated in 1937, and then she attended Naeve Hospital School of Nursing, graduating as a registered nurse in 1940.

Lorraine had nursing positions at St. Olaf Hospital in Austin and Coleman Hospital in Estherville, Iowa. During this time she was courted by Marvin Gaard and they were married in Kiester on Jan. 14, 1942, at the home of her sister, Maureen, and her husband, Joice Rovang. They rented farms near Frost and Thompson, Iowa, before purchasing the present farm near Oakland Lutheran Church in 1951. The Oakland farm had been her residence since 1952. Lorraine returned to work as a nurse at St. Olaf Hospital in Austin in 1959 and worked on the surgical floor until her retirement in 1978. She was head nurse from 1975 to 1978.

Lorraine was preceded in death by her husband, Marvin, in 2008; her son, Adrian, in 2007; and all eight of her sisters and three brothers.

She is survived by her sons Sheldon and Lamoyne; grandchildren Lisa (husband, Trevor), Jason Gaard and Izabella Gaard; and great-grandchildren Aubrey, Caleb and Sofi Gaard and Slater and Phoenix DeRaad. There are also many cousins and other relatives.

Lorraine requested that gifts be made to Lutheran Day Nursery in Chicago, Psalm of Life, Pastor Nataneal Lutheran mission in Columbia, Plymouth Youth Center in St. Paul and Navajo Mission in Arizona rather than flowers at the funeral.

A service of Christian burial will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Oakland Lutheran Church. The Rev. Waldemar Gies will officiate. Interment will be at Oakland Lutheran Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church. Online condolences are welcome at www.bayviewfuneral.com.

Lorraine died Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, at the Mayo Clinic St. Marys campus.