The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

Lorene Cordes, died Thursday Nov. 15, at the Golden Living Center in Henning. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday Nov. 19 at the First Baptist Church in Henning with Pastor Jeremiah Rice officiating. Interment is in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Henning. The visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday Nov. 18 at the Belmont Funeral Home in Henning and resumes for an hour prior to services at the church.

Lorene was born June 19, 1921 to Karl and Amanda (Lueker) Heuchert at their home, the Lutheran Church parsonage in rural Stirum, N.D., where Karl was pastor. When she was three, the family moved to Henning, where her father pastored St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for 18 years.

She attended Henning Public School where she “had a wonderful 12 years, taking part in many things, but playing clarinet in band was most enjoyable”. After having taken piano lessons for a year, she and her sister, Esther played and sang for church at St. Paul’s in Henning and Redeemer Lutheran in Almora. After graduation, she worked at Lutheran Children’s Friend Society orphanage in Minneapolis, Glacier National Park and at Walther League Camp on Lake Michigan. She was employed for a year by an insurance company in Minneapolis before her lifelong friend from church and school, Irvin August Cordes, returned from working with IBM in Portland, Ore. to join his dad in the John Deere-Skelgas-Sherwinn Williams business in Henning. She and Irv were married Sept. 6, 1946 in rural Royalton, Minn. They lived in Henning where Lorene loved being wife to Irv, a very creative homemaker, and mother to their only daughter, Jeanne.

She was widowed in 1975 after which she continued to work in the gift department at Bursch Drug, was active in Gray Ladies, Otter Belles and a host of church and community activities. She became a member at First Baptist Church, Henning, in 1981. She dearly loved her Lord and loved to serve in anyway she was able in both churches. She especially loved ministering in music and teaching Sunday School which she did for 34 years. She loved to sing, sew, stitch, decorate, arrange flowers and cook.

She was always a ‘people person’, being incredibly generous, resourceful, and hospitable. Whether her guests were friends, relatives, visiting missionaries, or her favorite, her grandsons, they were met with a warm welcome, comfortable place to stay and generous amounts of food. The twinkle in her eyes in this picture taken at age 88 says it all!

Lorene was preceded in death by her parents, Karl and Amanda Heuchert, her husband, Irvin August Cordes, sister, Esther (Heuchert) Meichsner, and brothers, Vernon and Charles Heuchert. Keeping her memory alive are her brothers Leonard and Lawrence Heuchert, her daughter and son-in-law, Jay and Jeanne Patterson and her grandchildren Joel, Jared, and Britta Patterson.

Online condolences may be sent to www.belmontfuneral.com