Obituary of Lorena Felzien

Lorena Marie Felzien was born August 14, 1918 at the family homestead northwest of Genoa, Colorado. Lorena was the first born child of William F and Minnie M. Paul. She was baptized in the Lutheran church on Sept ember 1, 1918 and confirmed on July 31, 1933 and has been a life-long member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Genoa. Lorena attended the lower grades in a one room school southeast of the family farm. Her father took her and her sisters to school in a horse and buggy along with a can of water for the children to drink. Lorena often talked about herding the cows on horseback across the pastures to the “breaks” for water. She helped milk cows, work the garden and can the produce. She also helped butcher chickens and with other farm chores. Lorena attended high school in Limon Colorado. She boarded in Limon at first with a family south of Limon where she helped care for the children. She contracted scarlet fever during her freshman year and had to drop out. She and her family were quarantined for months. She returned to high school the next fall and roomed with Hallie Fisher who later married Lorena’s cousin Eddie Moldenhauer. Lorena graduated from Limon High School in the class of 1937. She worked in the school library and was secretary to the Principal following graduation. She met George E. Felzien at a Walther League meeting and they were married on December 8, 1940. This was her parents’ 25th anniversary. They lived on a farm north east of Genoa until moving into Genoa before their first daughter was born in 1945. In 1947 they moved to Englewood, Colorado where George worked at a dairy, as a brick layer, and later at a foundry. He decided the farm life was better so the family moved to Vineland, Colorado where he worked on a dairy farm. From there they moved to another farm in Fowler, Colorado. When Lorena’s father decided to retire from farming and move to Limon, he asked George to come back and take over the farming on the homestead. So the family moved back to the Limon area in 1954. Lorena and George raised four children and made sure they were brought up in the Christian faith. Attending church and participating in the youth activities took precedence over school extracurricular activities. The children were active in 4-H and learned to sew, cook, and garden. Lorena also active in Farmer’s union and became a youth leader for the Farmer’s Union and was awarded a 50 year leader recognition. Lorena also was a member and treasurer of the Lutheran Ladies Aid Society, a member of the Sunshine Extension club, and RSVP. After George passed away in 1970, Lorena learned to run the tractor to do the farming and to take care of the cattle. She stayed on the farm until October 1994 when she moved into Limon. Lorena was adventurous and was always ready to go somewhere. She loved to participate in new activities and enjoyed travel. She made several trips to Wisconsin to visit her daughter Donna and Jim and was amazed that the soil there absorbed water so fast they were able to pick strawberries as soon as it stopped raining. She won a trip to Washington DC and one of her fondest memories was at Mount Vernon with her husband George. After George passed away, she took bus trips with the Farmers Union group to New England to see the fall foliage, and to Branson, Missouri. She traveled to Ohio and Virginia to visit Joan and Joe and took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. In Ohio, she took her one and only motorcycle ride with her son-in-law Joe. She traveled to Hawaii with Joan and Joe. She loved the fresh pineapple. She was also blessed with a trip with her sister Dorothy and Willis. They traveled to Yellowstone and on to Washington State. She was able to dip a toe in the Pacific Ocean. Lorena loved to work in her yard and grew beautiful flowers. Lorena was able to stay in her own home until she was 92. She has been living at Carla’s Cluster Care Assisted Living until she graduated to heaven. Lorena is survived by her sisters Doris Ivey of Colorado Springs and Dorothy Baum of St Louis, Missouri and her four children and their spouses, Joan (Joe) Perry, Donna (Jim) Welch, Dale (Cleta) Felzien and Marilyn (Robert) Stark. She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren, Timothy and Jessica Welch, Douglas and Megan Welch, William Felzien, Adam Stark and Alaina Stark and step-grandchildren Karen Perry and Lynnea Bennett, and great grandchildren Brody, Andrew, Thomas and Connor and step great-grandchildren Chance and Dersiree Daily and Justin Bennett. She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband George, and her sister Ethel Duell.